RangeBabe
by RangeBabe1227
Summary: Joe cheats on steph and she makes him leave with the help of Ranger . Then Steph takes a job with Ranger in Hawaii posing as a married couple. See what happen when they mix business and pleasure.
1. Chapter 1

**RangeBabe**

**I own nothing. Except for the story line.**

**Chapter one~**

_Trenton General Hospital_

"Oh my God Ranger I can't do this it hurts too much." Stephanie screamed as another contraction came.

"Babe, you can do this it is almost over just keep breathing. Our babies are almost here." Ranger said in almost a whisper while holding Stephanie's hand. They had been here since noon yesterday and now it was 3 am and Stephanie was ready to push.

"Okay Stephanie you are doing great on the next contraction I want you to push. I can see the baby's head so this should be pretty quick now." The Doctor said from behind the drape. It was time the contraction came.

"Oh my god I hate you Ranger!" Stephanie screamed as she pushed with all she had. Then there was a tiny but amazing cry.

"Congratulations it's a girl."

_Eleven months earlier_

"Screw you Joe, go play house with that whore you have been keeping on the side. I'm done being here when you want me but never being good enough for you. Stephanie screamed at Joe Morelli as she threw yet another glass at him.

"Cupcake what are you talking about? Have you lost it?" Joe yelled back at her as he dodged the glass he threw at him.

"Don't give me that Cupcake bull shit you scum bag I saw with her at the fucking bar. Get out of my apartment I am done with you for good this time. Part of me just wants to pack up and move so I don't even have to see or hear about you anymore as far as I am concerned you are dead." Stephanie yelled in his face just as Ranger walked in the door.

"What the hell is going on here? One of the alarms was tripped and it sent a signal to my control room. Then I pull in the parking lot and I hear you screaming. Ranger roared as he stood in between Stephanie and Joe.

"I saw him with her I thought that Valerie was bull shitting me because her life was falling apart but I walked into the bar and there he was with his hand on some bitches' ass." Stephanie screamed as she tried to get through Ranger. "I want him out of here I want nothing to do with him anymore. I am not going to play house with a low life scum bag that has had something on the side for the past two years. Just get him the hell out of my apartment. With that Ranger turned around and grabbed Joe by his arm and threw him out of the apartment and slammed the door in his face.

"Babe, are you okay? When I walked in here you looked like you were going to kill him but now that he is gone you look like you are going to cry." He asked her as he cupped her face in his hands

"No, I'm not okay. He led me on for two years while he was screwing her how the hell am I supposed to deal with this? I just want to run away for like a month so that I don't even have to hear his name or see him or think about him. Unfortunately I have a job that I need to keep this roof over my head. I want to cry I really do but I feel like it would be a waste of my time and I have wasted enough of my life on him." She vented as she walked over to her couch and plopped down on it. "I know Joe and I have been on again off again for the past four years but according to the bar tender at Pratt's he has been in there every Tuesday and Thursday for the past two years. I just need to get away from here I can't stand to be even in the same state as him." Ranger walked over to her couch and sat next to her.

"Well Babe I was going to call you about this later on but since you brought it up I need your to help me and seeing as you owe me I figured that you would be willing to do so. We need to leave tomorrow night the latest to go to Hawaii and I'm not sure how long we will be gone so you might want to find someone to watch Rex. I had Ella go shopping and pack your bags."

"You have the best timing. Let me go call my Mother then we can leave." She got up and walked to her room and closed the door hoping that Ranger wouldn't hear the fight she was about to have with her mother. "Hi mom I need you to listen to me. Joe and I are done for good this time you can ask Valerie about that. I need you to take care of Rex for I don't know how long I am going to Hawaii to do a job with Ranger we don't know when we will be back. Tell Dad and Grandma I love them. By the way I will not have my cell phone so don't call it. I will call you as soon as I can. I love you, Mom bye." She opened the door and walked into her living room. Ranger looked at her.

"You just left her THAT as a message. You are in so much trouble when you get back. You know that right Babe? He smiled a wolf grin.

"Yeah I know, but this is my chance to get away from here for I don't know how long and that outweighs the trouble I am going to be in." Then they walked out her front door. When they got to Ranger's Turbo he picked up his phone.

_SPOV_

"We are leaving now make it happen." Then he slammed his phone shut. We started out drive to the airport in silence; as usual he was in his zone.

"So Ranger, why are we going to Hawaii?" I asked him cautiously.

"Well it seems like the turtle bay resort on the north shore of Oahu has someone who is scamming newlywed couples into purchasing fake time-shares and then stealing their identity and we have to catch them and arrest them. Unfortunately they have eluded fifteen different teams sent to catch them already. So now they are pulling out the big guns." He said cockily.

"Great someone who already knows that people are after them. So how are we going to do this if they are only targeting newly married couples?" I asked him kind of dazed.

"Well Mrs. Manoso we are going on our honeymoon." He said smiling a 200 watt smile.

"Oh okay. Wait what?" He started laughing at me. I was going to be "married" to quite possible the sexiest man on earth. Holy crap this is going to be great.

"Don't get any ideas Babe." Was all that he said was we pulled into the parking spot. When the car was finally stopped he handed me a file so I could study my role and then she handed me a little velvet box and I must have looked confused because he laughed at me. "They are our rings. If we are going to play the part we are going to have to look the part." Hmmm look like I was newly married to Ranger I think I could handle that. Then I opened the box oh my god the rings were beautiful and full of diamonds and platinum. Oh boy I was beginning to understand the type of place that we were going to be staying at. I hope I don't screw this up too bad.

We got out of the car and checked in at the counter our flight was boarding in ten minutes so we had to haul ass across the airport. When we were finally settled into our first class seats I started to read my packet. I am playing a 32 year old OB/GYN (oh great) from NYU hospital who specialized in high risk pregnancies. I must have been pretty entertaining to watch because the entire time I was reading my packet Ranger was laughing at me. Finally he said "Babe maybe you should get some sleep it's going to be a long flight."

"Okay Carlos dear that's probably a good idea. Goodnight I love you Mr. Manoso." Yeah I was going to like this and I was going to make sure Ranger knew it too. He just smiled rolled his eyes and kissed me and what a kiss it was.

"I love you too Mrs. Manoso goodnight." Then he leaned over and whispered in my ear. "I can play this game too and I always win the games I play." Oh boy what did I just start? Hopefully I could finish it and not come out too battered and bruised. "Seriously Babe you should go to sleep you have had a rough day." He whispered as he wrapped his arm around me and I fell asleep almost instantly.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N~ Thank you for all the reviews! I appreciate them all. I am going to try to post new chapters as soon as I finish them. Please let me know what you guys want from this story if I'm not doing good enough!_

**Chapter 2**

I woke up with a jolt then I realized I was on the plane and then all the memories flooded back to me. I was here because Joe proved what an asshole he really is. I still couldn't believe it the past two years of my life have been a complete waste just when I decided that if Joe proposed again I was going to say "Yes" this time. Thank god I found out before that happened. Well that was my past and I am starting over now. I can't dwell on it I have a job to do and it was in a tropical paradise. I am going to enjoy every minute of this trip however long it is.

Ranger pressed a kiss to my temple. "Stop thinking so hard Babe passengers are going to start panicking with all the smoke coming out of your ears." Haha Ranger real funny we are on a private plane. "Just relax while you can we have a lot to do once our plane lands." I snuggled into his chest more.

"Can we take surfing lessons? I have always wanted to try to surf it looks like so much fun." Apparently Ranger though I was joking because he laughed out loud.

"Babe I would love to see you try to surf but with your track record for disasters do you really think that is such a good idea?" He continued laughing for five minutes before I could get a word in at all.

"Okay mister I'm so funny maybe it isn't the best idea ever but it sounds like so much fun. Could we go kayaking instead?" I asked giving him a pouty lip.

"I think that is a much better idea I think we could arrange a Kayaking tour. I am sorry for laughing at you but I know how your life goes and surfing just seems like an open invitation for all hell to break lose." Unfortunately I knew he was right so I really couldn't say too much about any of this.

"It's okay. I think that is the most I have ever heard you laugh. So how are we going to convince people we are newlyweds? Nothing for nothing just having rings and a hotel room isn't all that convincing especially if this person knows people are after them." He looked and me with one of his 200 watt smiles wrapped his arms around me and gave me the most toe curling kiss I have ever experienced in my entire life.

"Just like that, I think that was pretty convincing." He said after he left me completely breathless. I can't believe I forget he could do that to me maybe this trip was going to be a little harder then I originally thought. "Are you okay Babe? You are looking a little flushed. You forgot what it is like to be kissed by Batman didn't you?" Damn his ESP! I really wish he would stop doing that I hate when he reads my mind! "Sorry Babe I can't stop you make it so much fun. Your brain is hilarious!" DAMN HIM!

"If you don't stop I'm going to start thinking about really bad things to do to you." Like he is terrible in bed and has a small package oh my God I can't even make myself believe that.

"Bluffing and lying those are terrible traits Stephanie Manoso I don't know how long we can stay married if you keep doing that." Then he whispered to me. "Those are really bad lies too because I saw your reaction last time you saw me naked and the last time we slept together. Well I guess that last time we slept together I heard your reaction not saw it." Then he tapped my forehead. "Besides you are such a loud broadcaster sometimes I just can't help myself." My face was hot and my brain was mush at the moment so all I could think to do was kiss him again hoping that I would get the smirk off of his face. The kiss got a little out of hand. Somehow I wound up on Ranger's lap. When a slight moan escaped me Ranger put his hands on my hips and put me back in my seat. "Okay Babe I really enjoyed that but you kicked Morelli out 10 hours ago and you are hurting you need to think about what you are doing. And I guess it is a good thing we are using a private plane because if we were on a commercial plane people would have gotten a good show."

"That's the problem Ranger I don't want to think about him at all and yes I am hurting a lot I just don't want to feel it anymore." I whined at him. He looked at me and pulled me against him.

"I understand that but making out with me on a plane isn't going to change anything and you know it. Go back to sleep we still have 10 hours on the plane. We will talk more after we get settled in." I put my head dome on his chest and fell back to sleep. I woke up late to Ranger nudging me saying "Look out the window Babe we are about to land and you can see the resort we are staying at." Oh my God it was huge I couldn't wait to see the room we were staying in.

About half an hour later we got to the resort. It was bigger than it looked from the air which I didn't thing was possible. We were shown to our room only it wasn't a room it was a 800 square foot cottage overlooking the ocean. There was a king sized bed a huge bathroom and a giant picture window that looked out on the ocean. While Ranger was on his phone in the bedroom and I was mesmerized by the view out the window there was a knock on the door. I opened it and it was the bell boy with our bags and there were a lot of them apparently Ranger wasn't kidding when he said he didn't know how long we were going to be gone. There were eight very big bags which I assume were full of clothes. Ranger walked out and looked at the bags. "Well I guess Ella had a good time shopping I told her to pack enough clothes for two months and it looks like that is what she did." I freaked out.

"Two months Ranger? I have a job and a family at home how am I going to explain two months in Hawaii to my mother and to Vinny?" I asked him loudly.

"Vinny is taken care of he knows you are working with me for an indefinite amount of time. As for your mother I have no clue you better bring her back a good present maybe some pineapple rum or something like that because when you get home she is going to need a good drink." He did one of his almost chuckles. Oh I have a surprise for you."

"Oh a surprise other than not telling me we are going away for up to two months great!" I said with as much sarcasm as I could imagine.

"Yeah you are really going to love this one. You are getting a makeover from head to toe a contact I have in in F.B.I. set it up." He smiled one of his wolf grins at me.

"Oh great, so I get to be Miss. Fucking Congeniality too?" I screamed and immediately his mouth was on mine.

"Babe you have to stop yelling at me we have to maintain our cover the entire time we are here or this will be a complete waste of time." He said in a voice so soothing I couldn't argue with him. "Just think of it as a break up makeover you don't have to pay for. Remember you have to be a top rate doctor from New York you need to look the part." There was another knock on the door. "Babe that's your ride I'll see you later." He kissed me on the forehead and pushed me out the door to the black Cheyenne that was parked outside my, would be home for the foreseeable future. Maybe he was right this couldn't be too bad I need to look the part. So right then and there I decided to just go with it I was going to become Dr. Stephanie Manoso.

_A/N~ Sorry not much happened in this chapter it was more just to transition the story to the next part let me know what you guys think! _


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N~ Thanks for the reviews everyone_

**Chapter 3**

I got in the Cheyenne and looked at the driver. It was Tank! I don't know why but I was surprised to see him here. "Lula is going to kill you if you are gone for two months! You know that right?"

"Yeah she is already a little mad at me I have been gone for three days and I haven't called her so, I'm not going to be here the whole time I just want to surprise Ranger with your makeover he thinks that we are just making you look a little more professional. I hate to break it to you Bombshell but you are going to be getting a complete makeover." He chuckled at me. Oh boy I was kind of worried now.

"Lula put you up to this didn't she? Oh my God do not let them make me look like her! I'm going for doctor not hooker." I was freaking out in the back seat. Tank was driving me to some very secluded spot on the island laughing the whole time. "Tank seriously what are you planning on doing to me?" He looked in the rear view mirror.

"I'm not planning anything. It's all up to you. I am here to make sure you get what you want all of what you want." I just stared at him. What does he mean surprise Ranger with my makeover? Why would Ranger have any reaction to my makeover at all? Oh my god what if he doesn't like my makeover at all though where is the fun in that? "Bombshell you are smoking up the car stop thinking so much."

"Tank why do you thing Ranger would care about my makeover?" He pulled the car over on the side of the road and stared at me for a while. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Bombshell was that a serious question? Why would he not care about you getting a makeover? Do you see the way that man looks at you? He is so afraid his life style is going to crush you so he keeps you at arm's length and now that you got rid of Morelli he has himself all twisted on the inside. I just looked at Tank I wasn't sure what to say about what he told me but I did know that if Ranger knew what he just said Tank would be dead. Okay maybe dead is a little strong but Ranger would not be happy. "Oh by the way Ella packed you a surprised well it is more of a surprise for Ranger she was hoping the two of you would finally just give up the fight."

"Tank what the hell are you talking about! Ranger just wants me here because we work well together and we have done apprehensions like this before. Morelli has nothing to do with any of this at all. Yeah I know Ranger didn't really like Joe all that much but he is the one who sent me back to Joe. I would have happily just been with Ranger after that night but he didn't want to be with me. Listen Tank I really don't know what you are talking about. "

"You know Bombshell the two of you make me nuts and I'm not the only one who says that but I guess this is really up to you guys. I'm just saying both of you would be much happier if you just saw what was in front of you." With that he turned around and started to drive again. I had a lot of thinking to do. If Ranger and I were to get together I wouldn't want to rush into anything but I wouldn't turn him away either. I tried to stop thinking about Ranger but that just didn't happen. I was starting to worry about his reaction to the makeover I was about to get. We finally got to our destination it looked like a warehouse but Tank said it wasn't and I believed him. A woman met us at the door she was very pretty and if this was Ranger's F.B.I. contact I was a little jealous.

"Hey Tank long time no see how is everyone at Rangeman." Yup she was the F.B.I. contact. Then she looked at me. "You must be Stephanie. I'm Nina it's nice to meet you. I have been working with the guys at Rangeman for years."

"Hi Nina it's nice to meet you. So what is the plan for today?" I asked her nervously. She and Tank laughed a little.

"Well inside these doors we have a full blow salon and spa so you are in for a long day of pampering. For the first step we are going to start with hair color, cut, and conditioning treatment, I was also thinking maybe a chemical straightening because it is so humid here. The second step we are going to give you a coffee coconut full body scrub, a seaweed body wrap, a full body massage, and an anti-aging facial. Third we will do a manicure and pedicure with shellac polish. Finally we will style your hair and do your make-up. I know it sounds like a lot but don't worry it will be very relaxing and from my conversation with Ranger it is exactly what you need." This is definitely what I need.

"Okay that sounds great." I said eager to get started. Nina smiled at me.

"Well let's get stared. Tank we will be here for about eight hours so you can go relax somewhere. Stephanie come one in." When I walked in there was no doubt in my mind that today was going to be just what the doctor ordered. Just walking in the door made me relax, it smelled like lavender and oranges and it was wonderful. Nina directed me over to the salon area and sat me in a chair. "This is Jessica she will be doing you chemical straightening and hair color. In my opinion she is a hair color goddess have no fear you will love it. Just sit back and relax." With that she walked away and left me with Jessica.

"Hi Stephanie I am going to start with your straightening which will take about two hours so just sit tight and maybe try to take a nap or something." Then she started it took me about thirty minutes to get the stuff in my hair it felt kind of weird I wasn't use to having my hair all gooped up like this. After about another 45 minutes she handed me a book. "These are the hair colors we have available for you today I suggest you pick a color similar you your natural color for the base and then a red and a blonde for the highlights."

"Thank you Jessica It might take me little while to figure this out." Then she walked away to leave me to think about my choice. There were so many options. In the end I picked a light chestnut brown for my base color, a burnt copper for my redish highlight, and a medium ash blonde for my blonde highlight. Then Jessica came back to wash my hair out and then color it.

"I think these colors will look fabulous together Stephanie. The color will take about an hour or so once I get all the color and highlights in then you are off to get your hair cut and a conditioning treatment." I just nodded my head and let her get to work. I felt like I was a movie star or something it was pretty great. I really can't wait to see everyone's reaction to this whole makeover. Okay really I didn't care about everyone's reaction it was but I didn't want to admit to myself who I wanted to like it. "Okay it's time to rinse then I am going to pass you to Amanda so she can cut and do a conditioning treatment on your hair." Oh my God Jessica's fingers were like magic or something. This was the best shampoo I have ever had. When she was done she brought me over to another chair and another woman walked over to me and introduced herself.

"Hi I'm Amanda I will be cutting and conditioning your hair and after all your other appointments are done I am going to style your hair too. What would you like me to do with your hair?"

"Hi, Amanda. I was thinking a straight bang and my hair shoulder length like Jessica Alba wears her hair." Oh boy that was a big commitment thank god they straightened my hair.

"I think that would be wonderful with the shape of your face." Then she got to work on my hair. It took her about twenty minutes or so to cut my hair and put the treatment in and then another twenty minutes before she rinsed it out. When she was all done she brought me to the spa it was super relaxing. I was introduced to Kate who would be doing my facial, body scrub, massage, and wrap. She was very quiet and didn't really speak to me at all but her hands were amazing. I defiantly fell asleep during my body wrap it was just so amazingly relaxing.

When that spa service was over Amelia came over and got me to bring me to get my manicure and pedicure. She was talking a mile a minute but honestly I wasn't really listening to her. I was starting to get a little worried about how I was going to look and if I could actually pull off my role as a doctor. "Stephanie what color would you like me to paint your nails today?" That was going to be an easy decision.

"Can you please paint both my finger and toe nails black." HA look at me showing my Rangeman sprit. I really can't wait to see how I look. I am so nervous about it but I am also really excited I have never had a makeover before. When my nails were dry Jennifer came back to get me so that she could style my hair and do my make-up.

"Hey Stephanie are you ready to be finished yet?" I was so ready to be finished it wasn't even funny.

"Yeah I am. I can't wait to see how I will look when it is all done." I was so happy when Jennifer decided to turn me around so that I couldn't see how I looked until I was done. It didn't take her as long as I thought it would and when she was happy with what she had done she called over Nina.

"Tank requested that you wear this today. I think he is trying to make Ranger shit himself. Honestly I think it might just work." Nina said handing me a little black dress. "Oh you can't look at yourself until you put the dress on. We made sure all the mirrors were covered in the dressing rooms that we could see your reaction when you see yourself in the mirror." These people were killing me today with all their rules and surprises. Why was everyone so hung up on Ranger's reaction? I walked to the dressing room and got dressed. It was really weird not being able to see myself in any mirrors as I got dressed but I did it without any mishaps. When I walked out of the room I was anxious to see how I looked so I rushed over to the one mirror in the salon that I thought wasn't covered. Unfortunately they covered that when I was getting dressed. "Okay Stephanie are you ready to see what you look like?"

"I was ready when I was getting dressed" I giggled back at Nina. She dropped the towel over the mirror and I was stunned. I don't think I have ever looked so good. I felt like I was a completely new person. I was sitting there in front of the mirror when I got that feeling that someone was watching me. I turned around and Ranger was standing right behind me with a look I have never seen on him before.

"Hi, Ranger. Are you okay?" I asked him a little worried and then he got the 200 watt grin he gets when he really likes something. "See something you like?"

"Babe we are going to have to talk about this later we need to leave right now." That kind of broke my heart. I was hoping he would really like how I looked. He grabbed my arm, walked out the door and stopped in front of the car.

"Is everything okay you looked like you wanted to say something?" Then he pinned me up against the car and kissed me and this kiss was no peck on the lips this was a breath taking knee weakening kiss. When he pulled away all I could say was "Wow what was that for."


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N~ Thanks for the reviews everyone! I know the last chapter was a little boring I promise this one will be better!_

**Chapter 4**

"Ranger hello are you there?" I asked as I waved my hand in front of him. He took my hand and kissed the top of it.

"Yeah I'm still here Stephanie." Since when did he call me Stephanie? Things are starting to get a little weird now. "You look really nice." Well good I'm glad he likes how I look but what the hell is going on? He is being so weird.

"Thanks Carlos. I'm glad you like it. Do you thing I look more like a doctor now?" That's seemed to snap him out of whatever daze he was just in.

"Babe no one will think you aren't a doctor it will be fine." Yup he was back to normal Ranger now.

"Why did you kiss me like that and what the hell was with you calling me Stephanie? I thought you said I have to think before I go and do things like that." He gave me a wolf grin. Oh boy here comes a wise ass comment.

"Yes I did tell you that you should think before you go kiss someone but I never said anything about me thinking before I kissed you. " I just stared at him hoping I didn't have to keep asking him about this. "I kissed you because you look beautiful and I like kissing you. Stephanie is your name isn't it? Why shouldn't I call you Stephanie?" Great now he was trying to distract me.

"You have called me Stephanie twice not including now this only other time you have called me Stephanie was when we…oh you mean you didn't think before you kissed me?" This completely crushed me. I turned around and tried to open my door before he could notice my reaction. He grabbed my arm and turned me around.

"No Babe that is not what I mean I thought a lot about kissing you that is why I pulled you out here so quick. I didn't want to kiss you in a room full of people. That sounded almost as bad as me not thinking about kissing you. I swear to god you are the only person that can make me do this. By the way I like when you call me Carlos." He said as she kissed my forehead.

"It sucks doesn't it?" He looked at me a little confused. "Getting your brain all twisted like that." He shook his head. "Well that is how I feel around you all the time actually that is how most people feel around you. Talking to you is like talking to a real life Thor." He smiled and then kissed me on the forehead.

"So talking to me is like talking to a Demi-God?" I think I may I just created a monster, great. Now I need to figure out how to get that smug smile off his face. Ha! I got it! I waited until he turned his head and then I pounced on him forgetting that I am wearing a short dress but it was worth it because I caught him off guard. Unfortunately for me when we fell I somehow landed under him but fortunately for me he tried to land softly so I wasn't completely smooshed under him. "Why would you do that Babe? Now you are all dirty." I laid on the ground laughing yes I was dirty but his reaction made it okay. No more smug smile now.

"Ranger you really should be more aware of your surroundings. Oh my God I have always wanted to say that to you." Then I was feeling really brave so I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. He pulled away after we had been kissing for a while and laughed.

"Do you know why I turned my head?" I shook my head no. "Tank just pulled up behind me." I put my hands over my face. "Don't be embarrassed Babe. He is probably in shock right now so just go with it. For the record I believe you are still the one who needs to pay more attention to their surroundings." He kissed my cheek and then helped me up. Apparently he also found it necessary to help me dust myself off once I was standing up. I looked over at Tank and he gave me thumbs up. I hope he called Lula soon because if he didn't she might just shoot him. When Ranger decided I was dusted off enough he stood behind me and wrapped his arms around me. "Babe, we need to talk when we get back to the room and we need to figure out some other things too." I swallowed hard worried about this big talk we had to have.

"Well then we should probably go then huh?" He nodded his head and then helped me in to the car. We didn't drive very far before I fell asleep because the next thing I knew I was being carried back into our room. "I'm awake you can put me down."

"I wouldn't dream of it Mrs. Manoso." I guess we were being watched so I decided to ham it up a little.

"I love you Carlos." Then wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him the way I pictured happy newlyweds to be kissing. When we got inside Ranger sat down with me on his lap so I kissed him again. Who knew maybe someone was spying on us. He grunted and pulled away and then kissed me again softly.

"Babe if we are going to keep doing this while no one else is around maybe we should talk first." I didn't like that idea so I decided to skip that and just kiss him again. As we were kissing his hand slid up my thigh. I stopped kissing him for a split second to catch my breath and he used that as his opportunity to pick me up off his lap and put me in another chair. I knew my distraction would only last so long but I was hoping that it could at least figure out what I was going to say to him. Oh well I guess I'm just going to have to face the music. "Are you done with Morelli for good?"

"What? Of course I am done with Morelli for good. He cheated on me for two years; I had you throw him out of my apartment so even if I wanted him back he would never take me back. In case you haven't noticed he has been insanely jealous of you ever since you and I slept together and I didn't even tell him about that! So to answer your question yes I am done with him I don't even want to have to see him again."

"Babe it has only been a day are you sure?" Yup I had enough now time to fly off the handle.

"For the love of god Ranger, why can't you just believe me? If I ever wanted to be with Joe again I would have never had you throw him out of my apartment. To be honest you could have stopped this whole ordeal two years ago after we slept together but you sent me back to him. You told me he was the man I should be with. He was the kind of man who wanted to get married and have a family that's what you told me. Well guess what that's not what I want! I want someone who accepts me and who is honest with me." Apparently I was feeling really brave because I walked up to him and pushed him back in his chair. "For Christ's sake Ranger I want you. The whole time I was getting this make over done I was worried whether you would like it." Then I stormed out of the room.

As soon as I slammed the door shut someone came up behind me and clamped their hand over my mouth and threw me into the trunk of a car.

_A/N~ Okay sorry guys but what kind of Babe story would it be if something bad didn't happen when Steph and Ranger were starting to talk about their feelings. I am ready for all your hateful reviews!_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N~ Thanks for being nice with your reviews everyone. Here is the next chapter. _

**Chapter 5**

Oh great I was in the trunk of some jerks car right after I told Ranger I have wanted to be with him for two years and that the only reason I wasn't was because he sent me back to Morelli after we slept together. I would like to know who the hell was watching us when we went to the hotel. Was it the person we were after who was stealing people's identity? Or was it someone else completely? With my knack for disaster it could be either one. Most of all was Ranger going to come get me. I think I may have really hurt him with how I flew off the handle. I really hope he is going to come find me I need him to come find me. I have absolutely nothing with me that I can defend myself with; I don't even have my cell phone with me. All I have with me are my shoes and dress that Tank picked out for me to wear after my makeover. HOLY CRAP Tank picked out this outfit and knowing Tank there was some GPS tracker somewhere on here. I just had to find it.

If I were Tank where would I put a transmitter? On my shoes that's where now all I needed to do was figure out how to turn it on. Just then the car stopped. Shit! The trunk opened and I was in shock it was light out which means I have been in the trunk for at least 5 hours. I was about midnight when Ranger picked me up and we got back to the hotel around one am and I probably stormed out about twenty minutes after that. I was grabbed and immediately gagged so that I couldn't scream. I was dragged into a little house and tied up onto a chair. I still couldn't see who had me and they had not said a word so I couldn't even tell if they were a man or a woman. They left the room from a door behind me. This gave to time to look at my shoes. I reached for them but couldn't get them into my hands. So I did the next best thing and took them off with my feet and felt around them. Hmmm there was a switch like thing on one of them. Now if only I could turn on that switch, this was a lot harder than I thought it would be but finally I got it. Hopefully this would get Ranger and Tank to me fairly quickly. Then I heard the door slam shut behind me and heavy footsteps. Then I heard a voice to my surprise was coming from a woman. "So Ranger thought it was Okay to get married again and not have his daughter involved or tell his ex-wife? Over my dead body, well more like over your dead body." Shit it was Rachael and apparently she didn't get the memo that this was just a cover. Tank told me she was crazy but he failed to tell me she is a homicidal maniac.

"Hey news flash Rachael it's a cover we aren't really married! " Okay maybe it wasn't in my best interest to taunt the person who was holding me captive but she is an idiot to think Ranger wouldn't include Julie! "Are you really that dumb to think we wouldn't include Julie if we were to get married? I was there when he rescued her just in case you don't remember. Furthermore who the hell are you to say what Ranger does without his daughter you barely let him see her. How the hell did you know we "got married" and where we are?" Then she pulled a gun DAMN IT!

"Ron and I are on vacation and we heard you two when Ranger was carrying you into your room." Great this is freaking fabulous how the hell I was going to talk myself out of this. "It is not very smart to call the person holding the gun it could be costly to your health." She pistol whip me and let me tell you she got a good wind up too I saw stars. "Listen to me Stephanie I don't believe your whole cover story I know that he never wanted Julie and now he's just trying to find a way to punish me he doesn't love you." Then she pistol whipped the other side of my face I passed out. When I came to the door was being kicked in. I knew the transmitter would work I was going to have to buy Tank dinner. All hell broke loose and there were gun shots everywhere I tipped my chair over so that I was closer to the ground. It wasn't until I was on the ground that I noticed that Ranger had been shot and was lying still in a puddle of blood. The gun fire stopped Tank had Rachael in hand cuffs and Bobby was untying me from the chair. As soon as I was free from the chair I ran over to Ranger. He was barely conscience and there was blood everywhere. Somewhere in the room I heard someone on the phone with 911. I grabbed Rangers hand.

"Babe." I could tell he was having trouble breathing. "Good job finding the transmitter." He tried to reach his one hand to my face but her couldn't so I took the one I was holding and put it to my cheek. "Proud of you, love you." Then he passed out. Lester came rushing over and started putting pressure on Rangers bullet wound. I don't know how long it took but I know I cried the whole time we waited for the ambulance.

The next thing I heard was "Miss we need to get you both to the hospital immediately. Please get in the ambulance." I don't remember much from the ride but when we got to the hospital the separated Ranger and I. I had a nurse come up to me and bring me into a room and she took all my vitals. I don't think I said one word to her. Eventually a doctor came in and told me I needed stiches for a cut I had on my cheek. I hadn't even noticed it. The doctor stitched me up "Mrs. Manoso we are going to keep you overnight tonight it seems like you have a severe concussion." I nodded.

"Where is Carlos? I need to see him right now." I started to get hysterical. "I need to see him."

"You can't see him right now he is in surgery. He was shot three times and lost a lot of blood and the bullets did a lot of damage he will make it but he has long recovery ahead of him." I started to shake. "He will be in the hospital for at least three weeks. I know you are from out of town so you are more than welcome to stay in his room with him but I have to warn you it is not very comfortable. I am going to give you a sedative so you can sleep tonight."

I was brought a room somewhere upstairs and waited for the doctor to come back. After I was there for a few minutes Tank walked in. "Hey Bombshell, how are you holding up?" He asked me as he gave me a hug.

"I need to say Ranger now!" I said mustering all the strength I had left.

"He just got out of surgery no one is allowed to see him yet. We need to talk before you get your meds. Julie is here and she is in bad shape. They have her sedated but it looks like Rachael and Ron beat her up pretty bad she might need to have her spleen removed. The problem is Rachael and Ron are in jail and Ranger in still under anesthesia. And at the moment everyone thinks you are married to Ranger so they need you to sign some stuff."

"Have them bring all the paper work right now! I swear to god I am going to kill that crazy bitch." Tank looked at me in shock. "She took me, shot Ranger, and beat up Julie this is not okay." Then I started to cry a lot. "He told me he loves me before he passed out."

"This is all going to be okay, Ranger is going to be okay, and Julie will be okay too." He squeezed my shoulder before he left to go get the doctor. About five minutes later the doctor walked back in.

"Are you Julie Manoso's guardian?" She had a file full of papers.

"I am her step mother. Her mother and step father are in jail for assault and her father just got out of surgery and is still sedated." She handed me the papers.

"I need you to sign all these. We are probably going to have to take her spleen out tonight and we are going to keep her sedated until her father is awake."

"That is fine. Just make sure you do what is best for her." She smiled and shook her head.

"We will do everything we can for her." Then she turned and left.

My doctor walked back in about twenty minutes later. "Mrs. Manoso I am going to start an I.V. and that will give you the sedative throughout the night and probably into tomorrow afternoon. You really just need a goodnights rest to heal and then you should be fine." HE started my medicine and I drifted quickly into sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N~ thanks for all your reviews everyone! _

**Chapter 6**

I woke up in a fog. Then I remembered I was in the hospital, Ranger was in the hospital, and Julie was in the hospital. Yesterday was really not good I don't know what the hell is going to happen to my life now. I sat up in bed and realized that Tank was asleep in a chair in one corner of my room. I needed to call my mom but I didn't want to call anyone until I talked to Tank and found out what the hell was going on with Ranger and Julie. While I was waiting a nurse walked in. "Good morning Mrs. Manoso you look like you are feeling better. I'll let the Doctors know you are awake so that they can come in and talk to you about what is going on with your family." When the nurse walked out Tank sat up.

"Morning, Bombshell. I came in here earlier to talk to you but the nurse told me that they sedated you so I took a nap. Julie did have the surgery and she is doing great she is still sedated for now I think they were waiting for you to be up before they stopped the medicine. Ranger is being taken off of sedation later on today he seems to be doing well. How are you doing?" I felt much better now that I knew that Ranger and Julie were doing okay. Now I could talk to Tank about calling home.

"I'm feeling a lot better today. I am so worried about Ranger and Julie though I want to go see them as soon as possible. Does Julie know what happened?" He came over to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

They are going to be okay, don't worry. Good job keeping your cover although I am pretty sure you didn't need to anymore, the . called new people in already. I wouldn't tell anyone in the hospital you and Ranger aren't married though because you are the only one who is here who can make any decisions for him and Julie. I'm pretty sure Julie knows what happened we found her in the same place we found you. Ranger knows nothing about her being here so you need to be the one who tells him." He squeezed my shoulder.

"Can I call home? I need to talk to my mom about all this." He nodded yes then walked out the door. I picked up the phone in my room and called home. It rang once before my mom answered. "Mom? Please don't talk yet just listen something happened and I don't know what to do." There was silence on the other end of the phone. I took this as an okay to just start talking. "So Ranger and I are in Hawaii and we were posing as a married couple. I got a makeover and I look amazing and finally told Ranger how I feel about him. Then we got into a fight about Joe and I stormed out. After I stormed out I was kidnapped by Ranger's ex-wife. Ranger came and found me and she shot him three times. He is going to be okay but he will be in the hospital here for three weeks so I won't be home for a while. It gets worse. Ranger's daughter Julie is here and in really bad shape it turns out that Rachael and her husband Ron were beating Julie they are in jail now. She needed surgery to have her spleen removed. The thing is that all the doctors think Ranger and I are married and I am the one who has to make all the decisions for him and Julie. Oh and Ranger told me he loves me. Mom I'm so scared." I don't think I have ever talked so much in my life without my mother interrupting me. "Mom are you there?"

"I'm here Stephanie. Are you okay?"

"Yes mom I'm okay a little beat up Rachael pistol whipped me so I have a few stitches but other than that I am physically fine. I'm just really scared. I don't know how to take care of a fourteen year old girl."

"Stephanie have one of Ranger's men call me and get me to you. I promise I will not stay the whole time. Just long enough to get you and Julie settled somewhere over there and then come home."

"Mom stay home we will be fine if I need anything I promise to call you. When we get home I will bring Ranger and Julie over for dinner."

"Okay Stephanie, make sure my future son-in-law is okay. Take good care of my new grandbaby." There it was the mom I knew and loved.

"Mom. I love you thank you."

"Good bye Stephanie I love you keep me posted on them I'm not joking about what I said. Then we hung up. I can't believe she was so willing to come here just to help me with Julie. There was a knock on the door and two doctors walked in.

"Mrs. Manoso, I am Dr. White I am taking care of your husband. He is a tough man. He is doing well and we have stopped giving him the medicine that it making him sleep. Which means he will be awake in a couple of hours, he will still be groggy until sometime tonight though. If you have any questions make sure you come find me or one of my nurses." He turned around and left the room.

"Hello Mrs. Manoso it is nice to see you again you look much better than you did last night. Julie is doing very well we did have to take her spleen out and she is still sedated we are probably going to take her off the medicine tomorrow morning. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Well honestly I don't know very much. Carlos doesn't even know that Julie is here in Hawaii. We all thought that she was in Florida with her mother and step-father but apparently we thought wrong seeing as we are all in the hospital now. Her mother is the one who shot Carlos and hit me in the head." I really couldn't tell the doctor much more than that without blowing our cover.

"Well just so you know Julie was beaten very badly for a long time you and your husband might want to look into getting a custody lawyer to make sure she is safe with the two of you. Your doctor should be in soon to discharge you. Then I am sure you will want to go see your husband. Please come see me so that we can talk about Julie's prognosis before you leave for the night." Then she turned around and left my room. Tank came back in.

"Is there anything new to report, about Rachael and Ron?" I asked him hoping he had more information about what the hell was going on in their house in Florida.

"We have men looking at the house in Florida I have seen a few pictures and this is going to kill Ranger. Julie's room is like a torture chamber I don't know how the hell this happened without us knowing."

"You cannot tell him anything until he is out of the hospital Tank. I will tell him the basics but there will be no work talk until he is out of this place." He looked at me an nodded.

"You got it boss lady. While you were on the phone with your mom I ran to the store and got you some yoga pants, tank tops and sweat shirts so that you are comfortable while you are here with them. I need to go back to Trenton tomorrow but Lester and Bobby will be here until you guys are ready to come home." He handed me the bag of clothes.

"Thanks Tank these are perfect. Make sure you tell Lula what is going on and that I miss her. I'm going to take a shower and get changed. If my doctor comes in with the paper work do not let him leave until I get out of the shower." He nodded his head and I went in the bathroom to shower. I'm pretty sure it was the quickest shower I have ever taken. When I walked back out to my room my doctor was sitting on my bed waiting for me.

"Here are your discharge papers please fill them out and leave them on the nurses' station and then you can go upstairs to see your husband apparently he is waking up quicker than they anticipated." The doctor left my room pretty quickly apparently he didn't like being told to wait. I walked over to my bed and signed all the papers as fast as I could. After the papers were signed Tank and I walked to the nurses' station and left the paper work and then he showed me the way to Ranger's room. I could hear Ranger mumbling through the closed door.

"Tank would you mind giving us a couple of minutes I want to tell him about Julie myself." Tank nodded as I walked into Rangers room. I closed the door behind me and pulled a chair up to his bed. He was hooked up to all sorts of machines and had tubes and wires all over him. He grabbed my hand as soon as he could. "Hey how are you feeling?" I could tell he was weak and it was taking a lot of strength for him to talk.

"It hurts like hell." He whispered. "Are you okay Babe?" Of course he was more concerned with me but I was about to change that all.

"I'm okay I only needed a few stiches. Listen I have to tell you something really important and if you even think about trying to get out of this bed I am going to have you sedated again." He nodded. "Julie is here and she's in bad shape. Apparently Rachael and Ron have been beating her for a while. They had to take her spleen out last night and they are keeping her sedated until tomorrow." He looked like he was about to rip all of the tubes out of his arms. "Do it and I swear to God I will have you sedated again. I know you are worried about her right now but you will be no good to her if you go rushing out of this bed right now." He turned his head to face the other wall. "Look at me Carlos." Apparently that was the right thing to say because he turned his head real quick. "You will do everything the doctor says to get yourself better and get out of this hospital. The three of us will stay here until you both have a clean bill of health. This is very important because my mom will kill me if you and Julie aren't okay." That got him to smile a little. "When you are feeling better we will talk about what will happen once we get home. I love you." Wow I can't believe I got him to stay quiet that long especially after I told him about Julie.

"I want to see her. She needs me there. Steph please bring me to see her." A tear fell from his eye.

"I know she does but listen to me right now she is sleeping from the medicine. Would it make you feel better if I had the guys set up computers in both your room and have skype running so that you can see her while she is in her bed?" He nodded and I got up to go tell Tank. But he pulled me back to him.

"I love you Babe. I'm going to be okay stop worrying. Just please make sure Julie is okay. Where is tank? He and I need to talk about this." He was starting to be more like the normal Ranger.

"No work talk until you are out of the hospital you need to focus on getting better. You have to remember we are bringing someone home with us now." That made him smile knowing he was going to have his daughter with him from now on. "You know that means you should start thinking about what your role at Rangeman will be from now on."

"I know Babe. We have a lot to talk about when I get out of this damn place."

_A/N~ I'm ending the chapter here because I think it will be too long if I don't. _


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N~ Thanks for the reviews everyone. _

**Chapter 7**

Ranger fell back to sleep and I left his room to go talk to Tank. "So we need a plan. Julie needs a room at the Rangeman apartment. I've been there before I know the guest room is not 14 year old girl friendly." Tank smiled.

"Ranger is going to kill you if you have us mess with his apartment. How the hell would anyone at Rangeman know what it appropriate for a 14 year old girl anyway?

"When you get home you call my sister Valerie and have her help you. She has two girls that are a little younger then Julie. If Julie doesn't like it when we get there we can change it but she needs to have a bedroom in the apartment that is clearly just for her." He laughed because he knew I was right. "My mother is already referring to Julie as her new grandbaby. I think she is afraid I will never have children." Tank started laughing so hard I thought he was going to pee in his pants.

"Bombshell can you really blame her for thinking that? You are 30 and an extremely accident prone bounty hunter. What is she calling Ranger her future son-in-law." That pushed him over the edge he had to sit on the floor because he was laughing so hard.

"Well actually she is." He stopped laughing. "That started when I told her that Ranger told me he loves me."

"He did what? Excuse me I think I miss heard you Ranger said he loves you?" Oh boy he was going to start gloating.

"Yes he did Tank. And before you say anything you were right and I swear to god if you harass him about this I am going to blow your car up and blame it on you." He stared at me.

"You wouldn't do that. He would never believe that anyways." He started laughing. "I can't believe it took him being shot three times to tell you that he loves you. That man is so damn stubborn."

"Well in his defense we were kinda getting to that when we got into a fight and I stormed out so I really can't say much about that. I'm just glad he isn't mad at me." Tank stopped laughing.

"Well Bombshell, he might be just a little mad at you. He said you flipped out on him for no reason."

"I may have done that. How mad was he?" Shit, shit, shit. I don't want him to be mad at me. As Tank and I were talking Julie's doctor came over.

"Is your husband awake yet Mrs. Manoso?"

"He was a little while ago if you want we can go talk to him."

"I think that might be a good idea. I think he and I should talk about what happened to Julie and what she is going to need after she gets out of the hospital." I nodded my head and the three of us walked into Ranger's room he was awake and looked a little upset.

"Babe I thought you were going to have the guys set up the computers in the rooms so that I can see Julie."

"You were sleeping Carlos and I didn't want you to be disturbed. Tank, will you Lester and Bobby set up a computer with skype in here and in Julie's room? Carlos wants to be able to see and talk to her from here." The doctor looked at me very confused. "They own a security company together. I told Carlos he couldn't get out of bed yet so this is the next best thing."

"Okay well Mr. Manoso we need to talk about Julie's prognosis. I know that you are not from Hawaii and that this is a lousy way to spend your honeymoon but unfortunately I would like to keep Julie here for at least a week and from what I heard your doctors want you here for at least three weeks. I will suggest that you stay close for about two months though just to make sure there are no complications and that you both are healed up before getting on a flight. Now Julie is going to need to be periodically given boosters for pneumonia, the flu, and meningitis. She will also need antibiotics before she goes to the dentist or has surgery. Other than that your daughter seems to be physically fine except for some bruises. I'm sure you are not aware but she has been beaten pretty bad and has been beaten for some time now. There is no doubt in my mind that you and Mrs. Manoso will make sure she is well taken care of just keep in mind there will be so psychological scars that will not just heal in time it may help to find someone for her to talk to. I will get back in touch with you soon." Then she turned and left the room. Ranger looked over at me and grabbed my hand.

"How could they do this to my baby girl Steph? They beat her so bad they ruptured her spleen. Why didn't she tell me?" I have never seen him so vulnerable be for and he looked like he was going to cry and I couldn't blame him I wanted to cry too.

"I don't know Ranger. I can tell you this though she must have had a good reason not to tell you though. I promise you I will take really good care of her while you are in here." He turned away from me so I grabbed his shoulder. "Look at the good side in this she's coming home with you and don't get mad but I told Tank that once he gets home he is to make the guest room at the Rangeman apartment into Julie's bedroom." He tried to laugh.

"How is Tank supposed to know how to set up a bedroom for a 14 year old girl?"

"I told him to ask Valerie for help." Oh God here it comes he is going to kill me. Why didn't I just lie? He tried to laugh again but he started coughing. "Hey take it easy maybe this is too much talking about things for you."

"I'm not going to kill you Babe relax." Damn his ESP again. "Yup I can still do it even when I am heavily medicated. Come lay next to me for a little while." Then he very carefully scooted over to give me some room. I laid next to him and rubbed his arm. He took my hand in his and felt that I was still wearing the rings. "So that's why they all think we are married. Good call on that." Then he kissed my cheek and whispered in my ear "I love you Steph but this is something we are going to have to talk about later on."

"If I didn't have these on they wouldn't have let me come in here and they wouldn't have let me consent to Julie's surgery. I love you too Carlos." He looked at me and smiled. "I know we have to talk be right now is not the time. Are you mad at me?" He looked at me as if asking me why he would be mad. "For running out like I did. I'm sorry it just hurt a lot when you asked about Morelli. If I didn't run out I would have said something that I really didn't mean. I'm sorry I got you shot again." I kissed him on the cheek.

"I was really mad at you for leaving like you did and then I was scared when I went to follow you and you were gone." He came and chased after me wow he really must love me. "On the other hand if you didn't run out like you did we may have never found Julie. And you didn't get me shot again my crazy Ex-wife tried to kill me because she know as soon as I found out it was her kidnapped you I would file for custody of Julie." I think he was going to say something else but I cut him off.

"Get some sleep we can talk more tomorrow when Julie is awake. I'll see if I can bring her in here to see you in a couple of days."

"Will you stay with her tomorrow when she wakes up?" He asked me in a pained voice I could tell that it was killing him that he couldn't be there for her.

"Of course I will be. I will do whatever you need me to do for her to make sure the two of you are okay. Seriously though you need to go to sleep I love that you are awake and talking to be but you need to rest." I kissed his lips lightly. "Goodnight Carlos I love you."

"I love you too Steph." Then he fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N~ Thanks for the reviews!_

**Chapter 8**

I laid next to Ranger for hours just listening to him breathe relived that he and Julie were going to be okay. I have no idea what I am getting onto Ranger are finally on the same page (I think). While Ranger was asleep Tank set up the computer so that when Ranger woke up he could see Julie. After a while he started to stir.

"It's okay I'm right here. Look tank set up the computer so that you could see Julie." He let out a yawn and started to calm down.

"I barely recognize her. She is so bruised up." I could feel him start to tense up next to me.

"She is going to be okay Carlos. Just remember it is going to take a while don't expect her to be normal right away." He nodded and squeezed me tight against him and he winced in pain. "Be easy you have healing to do too. You need to try to relax."

"Stephanie." Oh it still sends shivers down my spine. "Why prey tell do you keep calling me Carlos?"

"I feel weird calling you Ranger now. It's like I'm calling my I guess boyfriend by a name that comes from his job in the Army. It feels kinda impersonal." He tried to laugh but started coughing. "Does it really sound that retarded?"

"No I just think it's funny and I like it so don't worry." He didn't comment on the boyfriend thing. "It hurts me that you just called me your boyfriend after all we are married." He smirked at me and kissed my temple gosh even when he was hurt he could be sexy.

"You are so funny. So does that mean you are my boyfriend?" I turned my head away as I asked him afraid of his answer.

"Steph? Look at me." I turned my head and looked at him. "I think we both know that we are more than just boyfriend and girlfriend." He ran his thumb over my cheek. "I love you and we do need to talk but I want to wait until I am out of here to really talk about it. I nodded my head. I killed me that he felt like he had to comfort me while he was the one recovering from being shot.

"Hey, how do you always know how to make me feel better? I mean you are the one sitting in the hospital bed recovering from getting shot three times in the chest and you still make everything all better. I love you." I kissed him lightly because I was afraid of hurting him. Then I yawned really loudly.

"Babe have you slept at all today?" I shook my head no. "You need to sleep. How are you going to help me take care of Julie if you stay up worrying all the time?"

"You want me to help you take care of Julie?" Oh my god he wasn't kidding that we needed to talk.

"Of course I do Babe. Like I said we need to talk. Apparently about a lot of things because way more has happened here then I could have expected and we need to sort them out. We will talk more when Julie wakes up tomorrow but for now you need to get some sleep too." I went to get out of the bed to sleep on the cot in the room and he squeezed me a little. "Stay here and sleep I want you next to me. Goodnight Stephanie."

"Goodnight, try to get some more sleep. The more you rest the quicker you will get better so rest because it is not fun seeing you here. "

"How do you want to see me Babe?" I wanted to see him naked but I wasn't going to say that out loud. He tapped my forehead "Loud broadcaster remember? Go to sleep we can't talk about the right now."

For the first time I let myself relax and fall asleep. That night I slept pretty well considering that I was sharing a hospital bed with Ranger. I woke up in the morning and he was looking at me. "Did you sleep okay Babe?" I nodded my head.

"Yeah I did considering the fact that I was sharing a hospital bed with you. How are you feeling this morning?"

"Really sore but, I'm starting to feel better. Do you know what time the doctor is supposed to be coming in to stop Julie's medicine?"

"Soon I would think." I looked at my watch. "It's eight so if she isn't here in an hour I will go find her." He watched the computer like it was a T.V. show.

"I keep thinking I'm going to see her move every time I look at that. I just hope she isn't too messed up from everything that has happened." I touched his head and turned it so that he was looking at me.

"We will take everything in stride if she is a mess we will get her help. She will be fine in time and that's what we need to give her, time." He smiled at me.

"I would have never expected you to be as maternal as you are being right now. It's like she is your own child." I never thought about it that way.

"She is your daughter and you love her therefore I love her and want to make sure she is okay." Ranger grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "I know I am not her mother but that doesn't mean that I don't want what is best for her, and if she is moving to Trenton I am going to make sure she gets what is best for her." We talked for a little while longer and then the doctor came in.

"Mr. and Mrs. Manoso we are going to stop Julie's sedation now. Mrs. Maonos if you would like to come with me that would be great. We don't want her to wake up in an empty room." With that I got out of bed and kissed Ranger on the cheek.

"Just keep watching the computer. I promise when she wakes up I will make sure she sees it so that the two of you can talk to each other. Then I talked to the doctor and asked. "Is there anyway that the two of them can be on the same floor? It would make life much easier for me."

"Unfortunately Mrs. Manoso we have to wait until Julie is awake and then we should be able to move her next door. It isn't very often we get more than one person from a family admitted at the same time." Then the doctor and I walked out of the room.

When I got in Julie's room I was in shock. She was skin and bones and she was covered in bruises. There wasn't a single part of her skin that want discolored from being bruised. The doctor stopped the medicine and left the room. I felt like I had been sitting in the room for hours when I heard Rangers voice over the computer. "Babe, has anything changed yet?"

"No not much except for she is starting to stir around. If you don't settle down in your bed and stop moving around I am going to call your doctor and tell them you need medicine to help you sleep." Just then Julie started to stir a lot and make some noise. So I grabbed her hand.

"Hey Julie it is Stephanie." I whispered. "You are going to be okay. We are in the hospital. Your dad is hurt right now but he is watching us from the computer." Then her Tossing started to become more violent and she started to cry so I hit the call button and the nurse rushed in and watched Julie.

"Mrs. Manoso this is normal just give her a few minutes and she will be okay. If this last more than twenty more minutes, please call me again." Then the nurse turned around and left.

About five minutes later Julie's body started to relax. Then she opened her eyes and looked at me. "Oh my god Stephanie you are okay! Where is my dad? They said they were going to kill him." Julie cried. I pointed to the computer screen and Ranger was speaking to her in Spanish I assume trying to comfort her. I went to ranch for the call button and Julie caught my hand and hugged me. "Thank you for staying here with us."

I almost started to cry. "Don't thank me Julie you never have to thank me for making sure that you and your father are okay. I love you both very much." She looked at me and started crying so I climbed into her bed with her, pulled her close and rubbed her arm until I felt her breathing slow down. "Everything is going to be okay. I promise your father and I will not leave your side unless you want us to." Then I realized she was asleep again.

_A/N~ I know it took me a while to put this up I am sorry. I also know this wasn't the best chapter but it tied up some lose ends. I will try to update again tomorrow or Tuesday!_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N~ Thanks for all the reviews!_

**Chapter 9**

Julie snored lightly as she slept next to me. I could see Ranger on the computer screen I'm pretty sure he was trying not to go crazy. "She's going to be okay Carlos. She is your daughter and if she is anything like you she will be tough about this all and a pain in everyone's ass as soon as she starts feeling better." I whispered at him. He let out a weak chuckle and started coughing. "Be easy. You need to stop laughing because it makes you cough and the doctor told you coughing could pop your stiches."

"Babe I can't be easy right now. You are lying in bed with my daughter and I should be there with her. It hurts so much to have to sit here and just watch her. I would give anything to be able to be where you are." He sounded to defeated and weak.

"I know but you have to concentrate on getting better that way you will be here for her when she needs you later on. Now stop pouting and feeling sorry for yourself or I will call the nurse and tell her you need a sponge bath." That got him to shut up.

Julie started to stir a little bit so I got out of the bed and sat beck in the chair I had set up next to the bed. After a little while she opened her eyes. "Steph you stayed! Thank you I'm really glad you are here. How is my dad?"

I squeezed her hand. "Why don't you ask him yourself?" I pulled that tray with the computer on it over to her so that she would take up the whole screen on his computer. "Why don't you guys talk for a little while? I'm going to go tell the doctor you are awake and call home to make sure everything is okay." I walked out the door and almost walked directly into Tank.

"Hey Bombshell, how is Mini-Ranger doing?" He asked squeezing my shoulder.

"She's doing okay I guess. Right now she is talking to Carlos on Skype so I decided to give them some time alone." I smiled a little. Tank stared at me.

"Did you just call him Carlos? Like for real?" I nodded my head.

"Long story, we still haven't completely figured it out ourselves yet when he gets out of the hospital we are going to talk about it more. I need to go call my mother and let her know that we are all going to be okay."

"I just wanted to pop in and say good-bye I'm on my way to the airport to head back home." He gave me a small hug. "I will call you when we start Julie's room. Do you know when you will be home?"

"Probably the end of next month, Julie will be out of the hospital by the end of the week and Carlos won't be out for at least three weeks then they want us to stay here for a month to make sure they are both healing okay." He gave me another small hug and then left the hospital. I walked to the lounge my mother.

"Stephanie?"

"Yeah it's me mom."

"You sound exhausted. How are Ranger and Julie?"

"Carlos is good really weak, tired and scared for Julie but he is doing good. Julie woke up today she looks terrible but she seems to be okay for right now though. The two of them are talking right now through the computer since they can't be in the same room."

"I'm glad to hear they are doing okay. Ranger's first name is Carlos? I expected it to be like Ricardo or something long like that."

"His first name is Ricardo, Carlos is his middle name but he goes by Carlos because his father's name is Ricardo too."

"So why are you calling him Carlos and not Ranger?"

"It just feels weird to call him Ranger now mom. I am completely in love with the man and it just feels so impersonal to call him Ranger."

"Well good because it would just be weird to call my son-in-law Ranger. What kind of things does Julie like?"

"MOM! Don't get ahead of yourself. I'm really not sure what kind of things Julie likes but I will make sure I find out for you before we come home. I need to go though I want to talk to Julie."

"Okay Stephanie call me if you need anything at all. I love you."

"I will mom. I love you too." Then we hung up and I walked back to Julie's room.

"You are back good dad shut off his camera because the doctor came in to talk to him." I sat down in the chair next to her bed.

"Well that will give us some time to talk. Do you want to tell me what happened?" She took a deep breath.

"You promise you and my dad won't be mad at me?" I nodded my head this poor kid thinks I am going to get mad at her. "Well mom and I got into a fight because one of my teachers saw the bruises on my arms and called her. I told her I wanted to come live with dad in Trenton because she let Ron hit me all the time and she went ballistic. Somehow she found out that you and dad were married and came here on your honeymoon and she was going to kill the two of you but you caught her off guard. Why didn't you guys tell me that you were getting married?" She started to cry so I sat next to her and hugged her.

"You want to know a secret? But you can't tell the doctors because it will get me and your dad in a lot of trouble." She nodded her head trying to make herself stop crying. Then I whispered in her ear. "We aren't really married we were here for a work thing and we were only pretending to be married. You shouldn't worry about me and your dad being mad at you for any of this there was nothing you could have done. Why didn't you tell him before now?"

"My mom and Ron said they would kill him if I told him. Please don't tell dad I told you any of this they might still try to hurt you guys."

"Julie don't worry about us. Your mom and Ron are in jail they can't hurt us now and they can't hurt you either. After the doctors say it is okay for the two of you to fly we will go back to Trenton and you will be safe."

"Are you and dad dating? Are you going to live with us when we go back?" Oh boy maybe I should have waited for Ranger to talk to her.

"Yes your dad and I are dating but we just started dating like yesterday and I'm not even sure you can call it dating at this point we are still figuring it out. And I don't know if I am going to be living with you guys when we go back to Trenton. Carlos and I need to talk about it after he gets out of the hospital." There was a soft knock on the door and Julie's doctor walked in.

"Hi Julie I'm not sure if you remember me I am Dr. Styles. How are you feeling right now?"

"My stomach hurts a lot and I want to see my dad not just over the computer." My god she is her father's daughter. The doctor lifted her gown to look at her incision.

"Well everything looks good and your bruises are fading. If things keep going the way they are you can leave the hospital in two days. If you want we can give you some medicine for the pain and then we can wheel you to see your dad." Julie smiled a 200 watt smile just like Ranger does.

"I can? Cool! How long do I have to wait for the medicine?" I thought she was going to jump out of her skin.

"I will send the nurse in right away and while you are visiting with your father we are going to move you to the room next door to his. I only want you out of bed for an hour at the most and I don't want you walking around." I decided it was time for me to chime it.

"Dr. Styles I will make sure the only time she gets up is to go to the bathroom." Then I returned my attention to Julie. "Now Julie don't freak out when you see him. He has a lot of tubes in his body and he is very weak so he may not be normal Carlos." She nodded at me I could tell she was really excited to see him. "I'm going to check on him right now and see what his doctor said. I'm not going to tell him that you are going to come in though I think he could use a good surprise right now." I walked up to her and kissed her forehead. "Just relax for a few minutes and when the nurse comes in take the medicine and give it a few minutes to start working. I'll be back in a little bit." Then I turned and left the room.

When I got to Ranger's room he looked like he was sleeping so I sat in the chair next to the bed. "Babe I don't know why you bothered sitting in the chair. Now you have to get up and come lay on my bed with me." So I got up and laid next to him on the bed. "How is Julie feeling?"

"She is doing great the doctor just came in to look at her. She said she was sore so they are going to give her pain medicine and then they are going to move her next door so that we can all be close and if she keeps healing the way she has been she can get out of here in two days. She asks lots of questions you know." He raised an eyebrow at me. "Like if we are dating and if I am moving in with you guys when we go back to Trenton. How am I supposed to answer those questions?" He gave me a weak smile.

"I guess we need to figure that all out huh?" I nodded my head. "Do you want to live with us? I know it wouldn't be the most conventional thing ever but I do want you there and honestly I think I am going to need you there. But I've told you this before the bat cave means forever no going back." I kissed him lightly.

"Do you really want me there?" He nodded my head and kissed my nose. "Then yes I want to move in with you and Julie. I love you both so much Carlos and I honestly don't know what I would do without you. What did the doctor say today?" His expression changed.

"That I might need another surgery tomorrow, they are finding blood in the chest tube drain and it is more then there should be." He looked really scared which made me scared but I couldn't let him know.

"When will they know if they need to do the surgery? And is there anything else they can do other than surgery?"

"They will know in the morning. If there is the same amount of blood they will operate if it lessens they will keep monitoring it, but they are going to do a blood transfusion later." He squeezed my hand. "They said it might make me feel sick for a little while but other than that I will be fine." I smiled at him.

"That means you want me to stay away huh?" He nodded his head. "Well before that I have a surprise for you." He looked at me funny. "Don't worry you will absolutely love it. I will be right back with it." Then I got up and walked out of his room. I proceeded to walk to Julie's room as quickly as I could.

When I got there she was ready to go sitting in a wheel chair. "Time to go see Carlos he is having a small complication and they need to do a blood transfusion and it might make him a little sick and you know how he is about being a tough guy he asked me to stay away while they do it."

"Stephanie?" She asked me in a sad weak voice. "Is my dad going to be okay?" I walked over to her and hugged her.

"Of course he is Julie he is just having a little problem with some blood right now and as soon as that is fixed he will get better so much quicker. Are you ready to go see him?" She nodded and we walked to Ranger's room.


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N~ The suspense is killing some of you guys I can tell… I'm sorry but there will be no more story on WTF is Ron and Rachael's problem just yet but it will all come out! As always I want to thank each and every one of you for your reviews! _

**Chapter 10**

We walked into Ranger's room and he went on a rant. "¡Oh mi dios! ¿Mi niña qué él hizo a usted? ¿Su madre ha perdido su mente maldita? ¿Cómo podían hacer esto a usted? Esto es increíble. ¿Cómo podría ser tan estúpido dejarle con esa mujer loca y su idiota de un marido? Porqué didn' ¿t usted me dice qué se encendía? Habría venido a usted y le había salido de allí. Usted es mi niña que pararía en nada cerciorarse de que usted es todo a la derecha. Te amo más que cualquier cosa en este mundo entero." I had no idea what he said and I had the funniest feeling that he wasn't done yet, but I could tell whatever he had said made Julie really upset.

"Carlos! Why don't you say hi to Julie like a normal father would? You haven't seen he in months and yelling at her for something that was not her fault is not okay!" I squeeze Julie's shoulder.

"Hey baby girl. I'm sorry it's just seeing you in front of me makes me so angry that they could do this to you. I am so glad to see you. Knowing that you were here in the same hospital as me but I couldn't be with you was killing me." Julie started to cry, so I wheeled her closer to Rangers bed so that I could scoop her up into the bed so that he could comfort her. When I got her in the bed with him he wrapped his arms around her and let her cry. I went to walk away but Ranger grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to them. "Babe don't leave you are part of this family too now." I wrapped my arms around both of them for a while. Eventually Julie stopped crying.

"Daddy are you mad at me?" Ranger nodded his head no. "I love you I am so sorry that this happened." He kissed her forehead.

"Julie it is going to be okay we will talk about this more when we are out of the hospital." Ranger started to cough real hard and I could tell it was hurting him a lot so I moved Julie back to her wheelchair. I could see the panic in her eyes, so I wheeled her out the door and into her new room.

"Steph is he going to be okay?" She said in almost tears. "Go make sure he is okay. Please?" I nodded and lifted her into her bed.

"I will be right beck you need to stay calm or the doctor will keep you here longer." Then I rushed out her door.

When I walked back into Rangers room I could tell the cough took a lot out of him. "Are you okay Carlos?" He nodded. "Oh my god you scared the crap out of me. I was afraid you were going to start coughing up blood or something. As soon as we got into Julie's room she sent me back in here to make sure that you are okay."

"I'm sorry I worried the two of you." He almost whispered, he voice sounded so week. "It hurt like hell. I thought I was going to start coughing up blood too." He waved for me to come closer to him. "Come lay with me for a few minutes. The doctor is going to be in here soon to do the blood transfusion and I don't want you to come in here after that. If it doesn't make it sick I will send a skype request and then the two of you can talk to me through that." I got into the bed with him and he tucked a curl behind my ear. "I love you Babe. I think maybe you should go home with Julie as soon as the Doctor says it's okay. I don't want you two to have to sit here and just watch me in a hospital bed." I glared at him.

"Ranger, go away bring Carlos back." He smiled a little bit. "I am going to say this once and _**only**_ once no way in hell, are we leaving without you. I can't take Julie away from you and I can't do it on my own either. I _need_ you with me and _we_ need you with us no matter where that is. We are not going anywhere until you are coming with us." He squeezed me a little and the doctor walked in. "Do you want me to leave now?" He nodded his head. "I will bring Julie back in the morning to see you. I love you. Don't get shot."

"I love you too Babe. Don't go crazy." I kissed him on the cheek and left his room.

_A/N~ Sorry this one is so short. I'm having a little bit of writers block right now so I am going to look back a little bit and make the next chapter great._


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N~ Thanks for your reviews sorry this has taken so long to get out but writers block was kicking my ass. _

**Chapter 11**

I walked into Julie's room and she was asleep so I took advantage of the moment and went to sleep on the cot the nurse set up. I woke up in the morning when I heard Julie stirring around in her bed. Wait a minute she was stirring around in her bed and she didn't wake-up that must mean she is starting to feel better. Oh this was great maybe we could actually stay at the hotel tomorrow night. I was looking forward to sleeping in a real bed unfortunately Ranger wouldn't be with me. He must have been really sick last night he didn't try to skype us at all. There was a knock at the door and Lester popped his head in the room.

"Les, what are you doing here?" I asked him as I walked up to him and gave him a hug.

"Tank is at home so I'm here now." Go figure. "Bobby is coming tomorrow to help you take care of Ranger." He chuckled a little bit. "Or as I hear you are calling him Carlos now. How did that happen?"

"I'm not going to talk about that right now because he and I really haven't talked much about it yet. I'm glad you are here Les." He rubbed my back a little.

"He's going to be okay Bombshell. Why don't you go see him? I'll stay here with Julie. I could use some time with my little cousin. Take your time he needs you right now, that transfusion was rough on him last night."

"Thanks Les! I'll be back a little later I think I am going to take a shower then I will go see Carlos." I left the room and took a quick shower then I went to Ranger's room.

I walked in and at first I thought I was in the wrong room. He looked like hell. "Babe I told you not to come in here until I Skyped you. I didn't want you seeing me like this."

"You don't need to be Batman all the time Carlos. Let me take care of you. I'll be right back. I love you." I walked out the door and went to the nurses' station to get two basins, two towels, two wash cloths, and some soap. I figured be at least a little bit clean would make him feel a little better. When I walked back into the room he looked at me a little funny. "Don't start with me Carlos. It will make you feel better." I said to him in a no nonsense voice as I started filling the basins with hot water.

"I know Babe it's just I don't like when people have to take care of me." He grunted.

"I know you don't but unfortunately you are going to have to deal with it for a little while. I'm sure you would rather me doing this then a nurse right?" I said with an evil smile.

"Well, being naked in front of you is no problem but it would be much better if you were naked with me." I just looked at him with the best glare I could muster. He sighed. "Yes Babe, I would rather you do this."

"I thought you would see things my way." I kissed his for head and started to clean him up. After he was clean I could tell he felt a little better. I kissed him again. "I told you that you would feel better." He smiled at me.

"I know Babe. Could you come lay with me for a little while? I need you right now." I climbed up in to the bed and cuddled next to him. "I love you Stephanie."

"I love you too. What did the doctor say this morning? Do you need to have the surgery?"

"No surgery for me there was less blood apparently I just needed some more Iron or something. They also gave me some platelets too which probably help a lot too. The doctor said I sounded a lot better today and that my vitals are stronger now." He squeezed me a little bit. He knew that was a sign he was getting better.

"That's great. I have good news for you too. Julie was moving around in her sleep and it didn't wake her up so that means she is healing too. Lester kicked me out of her room for a little while because he wanted some time with her. After I spend some time with you I am going to go talk to her doctor and see what the plan is for Julie." He nodded his head. After a little while we fell asleep for a little while until Julie's doctor came into talk to us.

"How is my daughter doing?" The doctor smiled.

"She is doing fantastically. If she makes it through tonight without any complications I will send her home tomorrow. Well not home but she can leave the hospital." I was relieved and I could tell that Ranger was too. "She seemed to be having a great time with her cousin in her room and she looked much better. After the two of you are done talking Mrs. Manoso you should try to get Julie out of bed and walking. Maybe you could have her walk in here and then sit in a chair next to the bed. I have her sitting in a chair in her room right now. Mr. Manoso I spoke to your doctor and he thinks you will be okay to leave in about a week and a half. I believe that you all should stay here for about two months after you are discharged. You should know that I have been in contact with the police and your daughter's mother and step-father have waived their right to a trial and they are in jail waiting to be sentenced. Mr. Manoso I hope you have a speedy recovery. I have to go see my other patients now. Then she left.

"Carlos you should call Tom and have him get custody papers together so that after Rachael and Ron get out of Jail they have no rights to Julie." He nodded his head.

"I called Tom earlier this morning before you came in. He is drawing up the papers as we speak and then he will be flying here to give them to the judge hopefully before they are sentenced. I can't believe she is coming home with us Babe." He almost sounded like a kid at Christmas. Except he has a deep voice and he is very weak right now."

"It sucks we can't go home right away but it will be nice to be a family when we go back home. At least we will be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas Oh my God I just thought about how crazy the holidays are going to be." He pulled me closer to him.

"Relax Babe, we are going to be fine. It will be fun don't worry about anything right now." He kissed my temple. "I love you Babe. The things I would do to you if I weren't in this hospital bed. Are you wearing underwear?" That horny bastard how did he know that? "Babe your pants are pretty tight it would be really hard to miss panty lines."

"Out loud?" He nodded his head. "Tank bought me a bunch of pants so I was comfortable but no underwear. You need to relax Carlos stop thinking about me with no underwear on." He laughed a little.

"It's hard Babe."

"I know it is but you need to relax and rest"

"That's not what I mean Steph."

"Oh. Well you need to cool it with that. I'm pretty sure you can't have sex right now. Besides don't you want me to bring Julie in here soon?" He sighed

"Yes, but I would also like to take advantage of you with no underwear on too." I rolled over to my side and kissed him.

"I would like to take advantage of it too but you can't so we are going to have to wait. When you get out of here and you are half way back to normal we can think about it. I'm going to go get Julie now I love you." I kissed him again and got out of bed.

"Go get her but take your time I have to get something under control."

"Have fun with that. Think of me! Love you!" I snickered.

"I love you too Babe." He growled at me. I walk out the Door to Julies room.


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N~ Sorry about the wait…. I have had some family problems that needed my attention. So here you have it chapter 12 as always I appreciate all your reviews thank you so much to all of you who have reviewed or added my story to your favorites!_

**Chapter 12**

I walked into Julie's room and could tell that something was up. I admit it I was kind of scared because she and Lester were definitely scheming about something. "What are you guys doing?"

"Nothing at all, Bombshell." Lester chuckled. "It's not like I can take her out of the hospital or anything." I looked at him trying to give him the berg glare but I couldn't after seeing the huge smile on Julie's face it made me feel good.

"Okay whatever Lester. Anyway Julie, while I was in your dad's room your doctor came in. They need you to walk and sit without any problems before they will send you home tomorrow. So I was thinking that we could take a walk around the floor and then go sit in your dad's room for a little while. He really wants to see you." I thought she was going to try to jump out of her bed.

"Steph, I'm afraid. It hurts so much to move at all." The poor kid broke my heart. I didn't want to tell her to suck it up but I also didn't want to tell her that if she didn't move around today she wouldn't be able to get out of the hospital tomorrow. Thank God Lester was there because I had no clue what to tell her.

"Jules you have to at least try to get up and move around because if you don't your body will only get weaker and it will be harder later. If it hurts too badly you can always stay another night and let your body heal a little bit more." Lester told her as he squeezed her hand.

"Okay I'll try and I am not staying here another night I don't care how much it hurts. I am sick of people poking at me all night long while I am trying to sleep. I hate this place."

"Julie you are just like your dad. He wants to get out of here so bad but he has at least another two weeks here." I told her.

"But if my dad is here for two weeks where am I gonna go Steph?" She asked me looking really sad.

"We will stay in a hotel until your dad gets out and then all three of us will stay in a hotel until we can go home. Julie you don't worry about anything I promise everything will work out all right. When we get home we will figure everything else out." I walked over to her bed and kissed her forehead. "You are going to be surrounded by people who love you and want to help you get better. So really don't worry about anything."

"What about school? I was only supposed to miss three days and now we are going to be here for weeks. I can't move to Trenton and miss that much school." She had a good point there I guess we would need to find a tutor and call the middle school in Trenton so that we could get work sent here.

"Les, can you pretend to be Ranger and get Julie enrolled in school and find a way to have them send work to us then we will find a tutor to help Julie learn the new materials?"

"Yeah sure I can get that done. I will see you guys later." He gave Julie a hug and kiss and then walked to the door. "I will get the guys at Rangeman to get all the paper work together. Did the courts send over the custody stuff yet?"

"I'm not sure I'm pretty sure Carlos is having all the paper work sent to the Trenton office and they are faxing us copies here. See if you can find us a hotel that has extended stay suites and have all our stuff sent there and maybe see if you can find some clothes for Julie to wear other than a hospital gown. I'm not sure it they are really all that socially acceptable." Julie giggled a little bit.

"No pink clothes Lester if you buy me pink clothes I'm going to steal all yours and replace them with the pink clothes you buy." I didn't think she was kidding either. "Blue and Black please."

"Okay Mini-Ranger. How about I get you Capri-pants and tank top like Steph is wearing?" Lester asked her. I'm pretty sure he was afraid to piss her off.

"That would be perfect thanks!" She smiled at him sweetly. Les shook his head and walked out the door. "So Stephanie when are you and my dad going to get married for real?" SHIT, SHIT, SHIT! How the hell am I supposed to answer that?

"Well Julie we really haven't talked about it we were more worried about you. I'm not even sure we are even ready to get married yet." I was panicking and had no clue what to tell her.

"Well I'm going to talk to my dad about that because I think the two of you are crazy!" She was just like her father oh my god when she got something in her mind there was no way to make her stop.

"Why don't you keep it to yourself for as little while? We can go for a walk and then go see him for a little while." I feel like this is going to blow up in my face but I need help answering these questions. I thought teenagers didn't give a damn. "No wedding talk though! Save that for when he is all healed." She smiled and nodded. I helped her out of bed and let me tell you she is one tough cookie. She didn't even flinch at all as she was getting up. Yeah there was no mistaking her for anyone else's kid ever she was most definitely a Mini-Ranger.


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N~ Thanks for all your reviews!_

**Chapter 13**

The first two steps she took were very slow but then I guess she realized that it didn't hurt too bad so she started to walk normally. "Steph this isn't too bad it hurts a little but I can handle it." I could tell she wasn't lying to me either. "So how far do I have to walk before I can go see my dad?"

"I want you to walk with me around the floor and then we will go hang out with your father for a little bit." I told her. "He is really excited that you are going to be able to get out of here so soon. I am too it will give us some time to get comfortable living together before we go back home. Plus we can have some girl time and try to figure out what to do with your room at the apartment."

"That will be fun! Maybe we can find some decorations while we are here that will be really cool for my room." I was so happy that she was this excited about spending time with me.

"Whatever you want to do, I'm sure we can find some cool things while we are here. Hopefully we can find you a tutor here so that you will be on the same page as the other kids when you go back to school." By this time we had made a full lap around the floor and I could tell that Julie was starting to get tired. "It looks like you need to sit down for a while you did really well, let's go inside and talk to your dad for a while." She nodded her head. After we walked into Ranger's room he looked like a kid on Christmas. I thought he was going to jump out of his skin.

"Hey Jules you ready to get out of here in the morning?" He asked her. Julie went and sat on the bed with him.

"I can't wait dad! Steph and I are going to have some girl time and find things for my room. She even had Lester call the school in Trenton to enroll me so that we could find a tutor here to make sure when we go home I'm not behind on all the work!" I have never seen a kid so excited about school ever or maybe it was just the fact that she was coming to live with us I don't know but both of them were smiling.

"Well good! I expect you to do just as well in school in Trenton as you did in Miami. You are a very smart girl and you need to keep your grades up if you want to go to a good college." Wow I have never seen this side of Ranger before. He is such an amazing father and I cannot wait until we are all home in the apartment together.

"She will do fine don't put too much pressure on the poor girl." I joked and they both laughed. "I have big plans for Julie and I while you are stuck here for the next two weeks, we are going to have some serious girl bonding time!" He looked at me a little nervously.

"Babe what are you going to do with my daughter?" He asked me. "No crazy stuff ladies I'm not joking!" Oh my, gosh I have never seen him like this he was so protective of the two of us it was so funny.

"Oh I was thinking we would go sky diving, surfing, and then maybe get some matching tattoos." He turned white. "Relax I'm joking she's recovering from surgery do you really think I would do any of that? We are just going to spend time doing girly things you know watching movies, eating ice cream, doing each other's hair and make-up, and maybe go walk around for a while finding things for her room. When did you become so tense?"

"I am always tense when it involves either one of you and now I have to worry about both of you at the same time. I just-"I stared at him like he was an idiot. "I just need to relax I know but I just wish I could be there with you guys."

"Dad you will be able to do stuff with us soon we just have a head start on you. Plus it gives Steph and I time to get use to us living together." God I love this kid she is so smart! "Steph I'm really tired can you bring me back to my room I want to take a nap and then maybe we can all have dinner in here when I wake up."

"Yeah I'll bring you back Do you mind if I come back in here though there are some things I need to talk to your dad about?" She nodded her head yes. "Okay lets go you need to get your rest." With that we got up and I brought Julie back to her room.

I got her all tucked in her bed and was about to walk out the door when she said. "Hey Steph, I just want to thank you for treating me like I'm your kid too and not just his." She melted my heart. I know most people would have just run away. I might be young but I have seen a lot of bad things happen and I just wanted to let you know I love you." I walked over to her bed and laid down with her.

"Julie you never have to thank me for that. As far as I am concerned you are my kid and I love you too." I kissed her on the forehead and gave her a light hug. Get some rest I will come back and get you a little later." When I turned, walked out the door and into Ranger's room I had tears in my eyes.

"Babe what's wrong?" He asked me worriedly. "Did I hurt your feelings before? I'm sorry I was just joking." I shook my head no and laid down next to him on his bed. "Than what is it?"

"Nothing is wrong Carlos. I'm just so happy right now, as bad as everything is it could be so much worse. And on top of it all we now have an amazing daughter coming home with us." I said through the tears. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"_We_ have an amazing daughter coming home with us?" He asked me sounding kind of confused. So I told him everything that just was said between me and Julie. When I finished he kissed me and gave me a squeeze. "Babe, can you please stop crying now? You are killing me here I hate it when you cry even if they are happy tears. And yes we do have an amazing daughter coming home with us. I love you Babe." I must have nodded off for a little while because next thing I knew Lester and Julie came in the room with trays of food.

"Hi guys I said sleepily. Sorry I didn't come get you Julie I guess I was tired too."

"It's okay Steph, Lester came in and got me and told me that the two of you were sleeping so we hung out for a little while. Then my stomach started to growl so he went and got food for all of us and them we came in here to have dinner with the two of you." We all sat down and ate together like a family. It was great but I really couldn't wait to go back home and be able to have our whole family together in our home.


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N~ as always thanks for the reviews everyone! I'm going to try to speed things along a little bit so bear with me on this chapter!_

**Chapter 14**

After dinner we all sat and talked for a little while. "Okay Julie is all set to start school when we all get back to Trenton and they are faxing me all the work she needs to do this week. Then on Monday the principal will send me the work for next week and this will continue until we get back. Tomorrow I will call the local middle school and see what tutors they can recommend to us and hopefully we can have Julie all sent by Wednesday." Lester told us all.

"That's great!" Julie said excitedly. "That means I will be all caught up when we get home." Then she got very serious. "What is going to happen with mom? I don't want to ever see her or Ron again." Lester spoke again.

"I spoke to the police right before coming to see you Julie. Rachael has been sentenced 10-15 years for attempted murder and kidnapping, Ron has been sentenced 5-10 years for kidnapping and child abuse. The Judge went easy on the because your mother has relinquished all parental rights of you which means even when they get out of jail she will only be allowed near you with yours or your fathers permission. This also means that Ranger has full custody of you." Julie looked sad and excited all at once.

"So that means that she doesn't want me anymore?" Julie asked with tears in her eyes.

I squeezed her hand and said "No baby girl that means she is a coward and wanted to get off easy so she used you as a bargaining chip. It's okay to be sad Julie but just remember that you still have me, your dad, and all of the merry men looking after you and believe me when I say it would take the world ending for any of us to leave you." The whole time I could feel Ranger tensing up behind me so I decided that the two of them needed some time together, so I got out of the bed. "Here Julie why don't you lay down with your dad and the two of you can talk I need to make a phone call back home and let everyone know what is going on. Les I need you to go get something's from the store for me would you mind going now?" He shook his head no and the two of us headed out the door.

"Sorry Les I really don't need you to do anything I just think the two of them need some time alone to talk about things. I need to go call my mother and tell her what is going on and honestly I need her advice. I will see you a little later." Les gave me a small hug and then I went to the lounge to call my mother. The phone rang and few times and my mother answered.

"Plumb residence."

"Hi mom, it's Stephanie."

"Is everything okay? Why are you calling so late?"

"Oh my God mom I'm sorry everything is fine. I just forgot about the time difference, I will call you back tomorrow."

"No, I haven't gone to bed yet so it's fine."

"I know mom Stella Giorgio's daughter doesn't call at all hours of the night from Hawaii."

"Stop it Stephanie. It is fine I know you wouldn't have called if it wasn't important. What is going on?" Who is this woman and what has she done with my mother.

"Rachael gave up all her rights to Julie so that she could get a lighter sentence."

"That woman is not a mother she is a coward. No good mother would give up her child willingly just to make their jail sentence easier." My mother sounded livid. "How is Julie handling this?"

"It's going to get ugly mom she's putting up a strong front but I can tell she is so torn up. Mom it is killing me to see her like this. I don't know what to do."

"I don't really know what to tell you. Just make sure she knows that you and Ranger aren't going anywhere."

"I told her that mom. It was all I could think to tell her. Mom I love her so much like she is my own it hurts so much to see her like this."

"Did you tell her that?"

"Yeah mom I did. I told Ranger too."

"Do you want to adopt her?"

"If Ranger asked me to adopt her I would do it in a heartbeat. I love them both so much it hurts."

"Well then I think you know what you need to do then don't you?"

"Yeah mom I do. I have good news too though. Julie gets out of the hospital tomorrow."

"Oh Stephanie, that is great news."

"Yeah it is, and then Carlos will be out of the hospital in two weeks."

"How long until you all can come home?"

"The doctor wants Carlos to wait at least a month after he is released before he gets on a plane."

"Well I'm glad you all will be home in time for the holidays."

"I am too mom. Listen I am going to let you go now thanks for talking to me I feel much better now."

"Okay Stephanie I'm glad I could help. Call me when you have a chance. I love you!"

"I love you too mom, I'll talk to you soon." And then we hung up I was so glad that she could help me out.

Now I just needed to talk to Ranger. Oh God I was terrified to talk to him about this. What if he didn't want me to adopt her? What was I going to do then? This couldn't wait though so after I put Julie back in her room I was going to have to man up and just tell him what I was thinking.


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N~ Thanks for the reviews everyone. I know I said the last chapter was going to speed things along but I changed my mind and this chapter isn't going to speed things up either. _

**Chapter 15**

I sat in the lounge for a little while and thought about what I was going to say to Ranger. I was so afraid he wasn't going to want me to adopt Julie. I need to put my big girl panties on and go talk to him now. I walked back to his room and saw Bobby outside his door. "Hey Bobby, how was the flight here?

"Hey, Bomber. The flight was horrible it took forever to get here. How are you holding up?" He gave me a hug.

"I'm okay; it's killing me to see the two of them like this though. I need a favor, don't worry it's nothing big." He nodded his head. "I need you to go take Julie to walk around for a little while make up something about wanting to be sure she is okay to leave tomorrow or something."

"What's going on Bomber? You know he can't have sex right now so what are you up to?" He asked me concerned.

"I need to talk to him and it is really important but I'm not sure how he is going to take it so I want to do it alone." Bobby nodded his head.

"It's big isn't it?" I nodded my head. "Okay fine go start a lap and I will go get Julie out of the room and then you can talk to him." I started to walk and Bobby slipped in the room.

I walked faster then I normally do to make sure that Julie didn't see me when she came out of Ranger's room. When I got back to the room I walked in and acted surprised that Julie wasn't there. "Hey Carlos, where is Julie?"

"Bobby said he wanted to check her out and make sure he agreed with the doctor." He motioned me to come sit next to him in bed. So I walked over and sat with him.

"I need to talk to you about something while we are alone." He raised an eyebrow at me. "I want to adopt Julie. I love her like she is my own and I want to be her mom if she wants me to be."

"Did the two of you talk about this?" I shook my head no. "She asked me if you would want to adopt her." He smiled at me.

"Well how do you feel about me adopting her?" I asked him a little afraid to her his answer.

"Do you really want to adopt her?" I nodded my head. "Is this because you feel bad for her?" I shook my head no. "I have one condition then." He stared at me is silence.

"Okay Carlos what is your condition?" He was still staring at me like I should know what he meant. "Okay obviously I have no idea what you mean so you are going to have to tell me." Oh crap he was giving me one of those devastating smiles which I would do almost anything he asked me to as long as he smiled at me like that.

"I was going to wait until I could do this the right way but I guess I am going to do things your way." He grabbed my hands and kissed me all of a sudden I realized that he took my rings off. He was holding them in between his thumb and index finger studying them. "My grandfather gave these to my grandmother over 60 years ago and after they died they were given to me. I want you to have them for keeps. Will you marry me Stephanie?" Holy crap is this really happening? Did Ranger just ask me to marry him? All of a sudden I realized that he was waving his hand in front of my face. "Earth to Stephanie. Are you there Stephanie?"

"Did you just ask me to marry you?"

"Umm yeah I did. Are you going to give me an answer?"

"Holy shit! Yes I will marry you Carlos. But I want to wait until you are out of the hospital and then I just want it to be the three of us before we go home." I kissed him like I have never kissed anyone before. I love you so much it hurts."

"I love you too Babe. You don't want to wait until we go home?" He asked me before he put a kiss to my temple.

"No, I want to marry you without everyone else's input. We can have a reception with our friends and family after we get home. But seeing as we are getting married I want to wait to adopt Julie until after." He smiled at me. "So when do you want to tell her?"

"When she gets back we can tell her together." I start laugh. "Why are you laughing Babe?"

"Julie asked me earlier today about us getting married." He just smiled.

"She's a smart kid and she doesn't miss anything."

"I've noticed. I wonder where she gets that from." He smiled like a proud dad. "So we are really going to do this?"

"Yup Babe we are really going to do this."

"Can I have my ring back?" He slid my ring on my finger and kissed me. We just sat there in silence enjoying the fact that now we were going to be married. About 15 minutes later Julie and Bobby walked in.

Julie looked back and forth between Ranger and me. "Why do I feel like the two of you were talking about me?" We both smiled back at her but Ranger answered.

"Probably because we were talking about you. We have some news for you. Why don't you come and sit down with us?" As she walked over Bobby walked out the door. She sat on the bed with the two of us. Needless to say things were a little cozy.

"What is going on guys? The two of you are making me nervous." I answered her this time.

"Well when Bobby came in here before it wasn't really to make sure you were okay it was to make it so that your father and I could talk alone." She nodded her head. "I came in here and told Carlos that I want to adopt you." Her eyes about popped out of her head. "He told me he had one condition, that I marry him." By this time she couldn't contain herself.

"Well what did you say Steph?" She was shaking with excitement. Ranger answered her this time.

"Julie Elizabeth Manoso, do not call your mother bye her first name!" With Rangers response she screeched and hugged me.

"You really want to me be mom Steph?" She asked as she squeezed me.

"Of course I do Julie I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to be your mom. I love you so much it makes me crazy. We are going to have to wait a few weeks thought because I want the adoption papers to say Stephanie Manoso on them not Stephanie Plumb. I was thinking the week before we go home. So we have five weeks to plan a wedding and get all the adoption paper work in order." We all sat talking for about another hour before Bobby came back in and told Julie it was time for her to go to bed.

"Do I have to go to bed mom?" Julie whined at me and it melted my heart. I looked at Ranger for back up.

"You are the one who wants to adopt her Babe." Jerk he knows I'm new at this the least he could do is help me out this time.

"Julie you have to go to bed you will be out of here tomorrow and maybe we can see if they will let us put two cots in here tomorrow night but for tonight you have to sleep in your room. Come on I will come stay with you and maybe we will put a movie on."

"Okay that's fine I just don't want to be left alone. Goodnight dad I love you." She hugged and kissed him goodnight and he whispered something in her ear. "I will dad see you in the morning."

"Goodnight Carlos I will see you in the morning I love you." I leaned over him and gave him a kiss goodnight.

"Take care of our girl for me. I'll be watching you guys on the computer. I love you too." He whispered in my ear. After we said our goodnights Julie and I walked to her room and got ready for sleep. I put on the T.V. but I don't think either one of us watched it because we fell asleep almost instantly.


	16. Chapter 16

_A/N~ Thank you for all the reviews!_

**Chapter 16**

I woke up the next morning to Julie, her doctor, and Bobby quietly discussing Julie's recovery process. "Okay now Julie you cannot swim for two weeks and no doing anything that could cause you to get hit in the stomach."

"Will I be able to go shopping?" Julie asked the doctor.

"I can't see why not. Just no carrying anything too heavy and be careful to watch your stomach. I think you are all set now I will have the nurse bring your paper work for you and your step mother to go over."

"That's my mother _not_ my step mother. She is going to adopt me." Julie told the doctor.

"Well then congratulations to the both of you. I am glad things are working out." Then she walked out of the room.

"Did you hear that Mama Steph? I can get out of here!" She said excitedly.

"What did you just call me?" I asked her with tears in my eyes.

"Mama Steph! Is that that okay for me to call you?" I nodded my head. "Why are you crying then?"

"I'm just so happy that you are okay and that I'm going to adopt you! It's kind of over whelming happiness and I'm just not use to it. And on top of it I am marrying your dad too I just can't help it." We both laughed a little and then the nurse came in with Julies discharge papers. I signed them and we went into Ranger's room.

"Good morning ladies. How are we today?" He asked us as we walked into the room. "Babe, why does it look like you were crying?" This made me start crying all over again.

"Well it all started when I called her Mama Steph and yeah I think she is too happy for her own good. She told me between the two of us being okay, being able to adopt me, and marrying you it's just overwhelmingly happy. Which I think is silly because I'm ecstatic and I'm not crying." Ranger laughed.

"Stop making fun of me you two, it has been a long week okay!" Then I started to laugh. "Okay I know it is a little funny but I can't help it. A little over a week ago I had just kicked Morelli out of my life and came here on a job and now I am going to go home with a family excuse me for being happy." After I went on my rant Lester and Bobby walked into the room. Lester spoke first.

"Is it true Bombshell?" I looked at him questioningly. "You and boss man are getting married and you are going to adopt Julie?" I nodded yes and he ran up to me and hugged me. "Congratulations, you are looking pretty good for someone who just had a kid." He laughed. "I can't wait until the wedding." Ranger shot him a look.

"Well actually Les, you aren't invited. It is just going to be the three of us." He frowned.

"Oh well I guess I understand that. I actually came in here to talk to you guys about Julie's tutor. I found the perfect one she is a middle school teacher but she only works part time so she is going to tutor Julie from 9 am – 12 noon before she has to go teach her classes from 1pm until 4pm. She said that if Julie was feeling up to is she could come to class with her once a week." I could see that Julie was beyond excited. I laughed.

"Julie I think that you are the only Middle School kid I know of that is excited to go to school." She nodded her head.

"I love school Steph and I get really good grades. Okay maybe I'm not your normal 14 year old but hey, who wants to be normal?"

"Good point Julie, normal is boring." She nodded her head at me. "I'm glad you are not normal because you are wonderful just the way you are." Then I turned to Lester. "So where are we going to be living until we can actually go home?"

"Well I have some good news I found you a two bedroom apartment on the beach to rent for the rest of your time here. We have put all the security system that will be needed while you are here." I nodded and then Ranger's doctor came in and asked us all to leave.

"Can we have five minutes?" I asked. "We have to go home for the rest of the day so I just want to my daughter and I to say goodnight night to him." The doctor nodded and walked out. I gave Ranger a hug and kiss. "I love you Carlos we will see you after Julie's tutor leaves tomorrow." I walked out and gave Julie some time alone with him. When she came out we followed Lester and Bobby out to the car. Go figure it was a black SUV. It took us about twenty minutes to get from the hospital to the apartment. The apartment was on the third floor and it was amazing, you could see the beach from our dining room window.

"Wow guys you picked a great apartment. The view is amazing. Now all I need to do is learn how to cook." The Julie piped up.

"I know how to cook. Maybe I could help you learn."

"That would be great Julie thanks!" Oh great I was going to learn how to cook from a 14 year old girl how pathetic am I? Then I looked at the clock it was already six at night. "How about we save those cooking lessons for another day? It is already dinner time so I think tonight we should go out to eat." Julie nodded her head and we all left to have dinner. It was nothing spectacular we just went to the closest McDonalds because none of us wanted to deal with getting changed to go out for dinner.


	17. Chapter 17

_A/N~ Thanks for all the reviews! Now its time to get the ball rolling a little bit!_

**Chapter 17**

The next two weeks went without a hitch. We would get up around 7:30 have breakfast, get dressed, Julie's tutor would come from 9-12, we would go do some shopping and wedding stuff, we would go back to the apartment so Julie could do her homework, and then we would go visit Ranger at the hospital from about 4 in the after noon until 9 at night. We really didn't have any time to worry about anything. The day before Ranger was supposed to come home I called my mom.

"Plum residence."

"Hi mom, its Stephanie."

"Hi Stephanie. How is everything in Hawaii?"

"Everything is good. Julie is doing really well with all her tutoring and is way ahead of where the teachers in Trenton expected her to be they have had to send extra work for her. Carlos is getting out of the hospital tomorrow. "

"That's great, I'm glad everyone is doing so well."

"Yeah but that isn't why I called. I need to tell you something but I need you to promise me that you will not get mad at me."

"Oh boy what is going on Stephanie? Don't you dare tell me that the three of are not coming back here."

"No mom its not that but I think it might upset you a little bit."

"Go ahead Stephanie just tell me."

"Well when I told Carlos that I wanted to adopt Julie he told me he would only let me adopt her if I would marry him."

"And are you okay with that?"

"I am beyond okay with that. I am ecstatic!" As I was talking to my mother there was a knock on the door. "Hold on mom someone is at the door." So I got up and walked to the door and opened it. I could not believe my eyes Ranger was standing in the hallway. "Mom I have to go. I will call you tomorrow."

"Stephanie is everything okay?"

"Everything is perfect Carlos is here. Love you, bye." I hung up the phone and threw my arms around Ranger's neck. "Oh my God what are you doing here?"

"Well, I may have convinced my doctor to tell you that I was getting out a day later then I really was so that I could surprise you. I really wanted to do something special for you and Julie." Then he kissed me senseless, when he broke the kiss I was having trouble catching my breath. "Where is Julie? I thought she would hear my voice and come running."

"She went to school with Miss. Jones today if you want we can go pick her up early. I am supposed to pick her up at 3 today but I am sure she will be so happy if you were there too." He smiled, took my hand, and we walked out to the car. It took us about ten minutes to drive to the school.

"Babe, can you go in and get her so that I can surprise her by being in the car when you guys come out." I nodded and walked into the school.

It took Julie about ten minutes to get back to the office and when she saw me she started to panic. "Is everything okay with my dad? Why are you here so early?"

"Julie calm down Carlos is fine I just wanted to come and get you because I found the cutest little shop that has the most beautiful white dress and I wanted to get your okay before I bought it." She nodded her head seeming to believe my reasoning. But when we got outside and saw her father standing by the car I swear she turned into a little girl again.

"Daddy!" She screamed as she went running to him giving him a huge hug. "I can't believe you are here I thought we were going to the hospital tomorrow that's why I came here today. How are you feeling?" He hugged her tight

"I'm feeling pretty good. We still have to stay here for another month but the doctors just want to make sure we are safe to fly." I walked up to them to put my hand on Rangers shoulder and he pulled me into their hug. It was an amazing feeling to be hugged by the two of them, I couldn't imagine anything better. "How about the three of us go to the store to get some food that we can take on a picnic?" Both Julie and I nodded our heads yes. We all got into the car and drove to the grocery store. When we got there Carlos walked us straight back to the deli and said. "I'm picking up an order for Carlos Manoso." The boy behind the counter handed us two big bags of food.

"How long have you been planning this Carlos?" I asked him and he gave me one of his 200 watt smiles.

"Since about a week ago, you have been going non-stop since all this started and I wanted to do something to let you know how much I appreciate what you have been doing. I love you Steph." How did a find such an amazing man?

"I love you too Carlos." I tip toed so that I could give him a light kiss.

"Are you guys going to kiss all day? Because if you are I can go back to school for the rest of the day." Julie stated. Ranger just shook his head. And we walked to the check out counter to pay for out lunch. It seemed like Ranger knew exactly where he was going when he started driving the car. It took us about five minutes to get to a small park. It was beautiful and it was so quiet I'm pretty sure we were the only people there. We spent lunch just relaxing talking and laughing, I'm pretty sure us was exactly what all of us needed.


	18. Chapter 18

_A/N~ Thanks for the reviews everyone! Now it's time for a wedding!_

**Chapter 18**

The next three weeks were full of wedding planning. I had no Idea what Carlos was going to be wearing but I was okay with that because he doesn't know what my dress looks like either. It was finally our big day we were going to be married and at the end of our ceremony we were going to sign the adoption papers. I could hardly contain my excitement. I finished my hair and makeup and was finally ready to walk down the aisle. Then my nerves hit me and I had to sit down. Julie walked over to me.

"Steph what's wrong why do you look so upset?" I loved this girl she was amazing and didn't miss a thing.

"Nothing is wrong. I'm just a little nervous it's a pretty important day and I hadn't really had time to think about it until now." She looked a little scared. "Don't get me wrong I am so happy to marry your father and then be your mom it is just a lot of excitement and I just need a minute to gather my thoughts."

"Okay, well so do I. Can I sit with you?" I motioned her to sit down next to me on the couch. About ten minutes later I felt like I was centered again.

"It's about that time Julie are you ready to go?" She smiled at me and nodded her head so we both got up and walked down to the beach where Carlos was waiting for us.

The beach looked absolutely amazing there were white flowers everywhere. The best part was Carlos he was dressed in an all white linen suit, which was an amazing change seeing as he only wears black. I am so happy we decided to have the ceremony videotaped because it will nice to be able to show our families and friends when we go back home and have a reception with everyone. The ceremony was fairly shot but we got our point across and then we said "I do" and kissed. When we pulled away Carlos put his hands over my cheeks. "Babe, stop crying you look beautiful and I love you, but it kills me when you cry even when you are happy." The Justice of the peace cleared their throat.

"I believe we have one more thing to take care of here. I seem to have some papers that need to be signed." She placed them on the table in front of us. "Mrs. Manoso these papers state that from this day forward that Julie Elizabeth Manoso is your daughter if this is to be true I need you to sign here." I signed the papers. The he looked to Carlos. "These papers say that you consent to Mrs. Manoso adopting your daughter Julie Elizabeth Manoso and that she has the same legal rights and responsibilities when it comes to you daughter. If this is to be true I need you to sign right here." Carlos signed the papers. "Now Julie, the fact that your parents signed these papers means that they both love you very much and would do anything to make sure that you are taken care of. So when things don't exactly go your way I want you to remember this." After the Judge was finished taking I turned to Julie.

"I saw this the other day and it made me think of you." I told her handing her a bracelet. "I know it isn't much but when I saw it I knew I had to get it for you. I hope you like it. I want you to know that even though I didn't give birth to you that you are still my everything and I would die before I did anything that would hurt you intentionally." Julie smiled.

"Since we are on the present train." She said with an evil grin on her face. "I have a present for the two of you well actually it is from Lester, Bobby, and me. Seeing that it is you wedding night we thought the two of you would like some time alone so we got you guys a hotel room for tonight. Lester and Bobby are going to stay with me to make sure nothing goes wrong." This girl was quite the schemer Carlos and I will have to be careful with that over the next couple of years. Ranger looked at her and smiled.

"Thank you Julie but you didn't have to do that Stephanie and I love spending time with you." He had more to say but Julie interrupted.

"Dad I know that the two of you love spending time with me but this is your wedding night and I think that you two should have a night alone. But I want to have dinner and desert with you before you go." I kissed Julie on the forehead.

"Thank you Julie this was very thoughtful of you. We have to take some pictures first and then we can go have dinner on the beach. Lester bought stuff so that we can all have a barbeque after the ceremony."

I think we may have posed for pictures for an hour it was insane but I couldn't wait until we could look at all of them and have an album made. The three of us looked amazing Carlos in his white linen suit, Julie in her light blue sundress and me in my white tea length wedding dress. After the pictures were done we walked up the beach to where Lester and Bobby were setting up our barbeque for dinner. It was nice having the five of us sitting on the beach hanging out and eating dinner. After dinner we had an absolutely amazing chocolate mousse cake for desert even Carlos ate some of it, I was in shock. When we were all done eating we cleaned up. Then Julie, Lester, and Bobby drove us to our hotel.

When we got to our room there were candles and rose petals everywhere it is beyond romantic. Needless to say we had an amazing wedding night and we didn't get much sleep either.

_A/N~ Sorry it took so long to get this out I have been on really high dose pain killers which make it hard to see the keyboard. Thank you for you continued support of RangeBabe_


	19. Chapter 19

_A/N~ Thank you for all your reviews I appreciate them! I still haven't found out what is wrong with me so I apologize if my chapters take a while to put up. _

**Chapter 19**

Then next few days were wonderful we did a lot of sightseeing and we even went on a kayaking tour which was completely amazing. It was two days before we left and Carlos and Julie were going to go on a helicopter ride which I decided to not do because I was terrified of them. After they left I went to go see Bobby and Lester for a few minutes.

"Hey guys what are you doing today?" I asked

"Nothing, Beautiful. Why what's up?" Lester answered me.

"Well I was hoping to borrow one of the trucks I have to go see someone."

"Do you want company? You look a little off today."

"Well actually I think I need to do this by myself."

"Who are you going to see?" Shit I knew I should have paid better attention to what I was saying, the Merry Men don't miss anything.

"Well you promise you won't tell Carlos."

"Oh no you are not going to see Rachael. Are you insane?"

"No, I am not insane, I'm spiteful. I want to make sure she knows exactly what she gave up." Then Bobby added his two cents.

"We won't say anything to Ranger." Thank God. "If you let us come with you." Crap!

"Guy's she is in jail I don't need body guards."

"Who said anything about body guards?" Lester chuckled. "We want to watch the fireworks."

"Fine but can we go now I want to be back before Carlos and Julie." We walked down to the truck and drove about thirty minutes to the prison. When we got there I walked to the front desk. "I would like to see Rachael Martin I called earlier."

"Yes I was the one to answer the call I just need to take your purse so if there is anything you need out of it please take it now. " The guard answered and walked us to the visitor room. There was a row of seats with a desk and glass in front of them. "Prisoner Martin will be here shortly please take a seat at window eight." We sat and waited for Rachael.

When she sat down in front of us it was easy to tell she was furious. "What do you want from me? I gave her up that should be enough."

"Oh I know you gave her up I was there and saw her face when she found out. It was like someone punched her in the stomach. By the way I adopted her three days ago. I just want to know what the hell you were thinking when you beat her the way you did."

"What I was thinking? Why don't you ask that selfish brat of yours? She always needed something food, clothes, school supplies, she even had the audacity to tell me the teacher wanted all her homework typed. Like we could afford that."

"Wow you expect me to believe that you have no money? You must think I am really stupid."

"Well as a matter of fact Miss. Plumb." I cut her off

"Actually it's Mrs. Manoso. Just so you know Rangeman searched your house we know exactly what when on there don't you dare tell me it had anything to do with money. The truth is that you are a horrible person."

"You want to know why I beat her? I'll tell you, she is just like her father looks and personality. I got rid of him and my daughter turned out to be the same person. SO I tried to beat it out of her. I told her if she told Ranger I would kill him."

"Well Racheal I hope they can help you here. When you get out you will stay far, far away from my daughter or I will quite literally kill you with my bare hands."

Then I got up and the three of us left the prison and headed back to the apartment. When we got there Carlos and Julie were still gone. Bobby desided he wanted to go sit on the beach but Lester and I wanted so sit and have a cup of coffee.

"Are you okay Beautiful?" Les asked me.

"I will be I still don't understand how she could do that to Julie."

"Neither do I." Then the door to the apartment opened.

"We are in the kitchen." I called. Both Carlos and Julie came into the kitchen. "Did you guys have fun?"

"Oh my God Mama Steph it was so cool and we saw so much." Then Carlo spoke up.

"I think we should start packing tonight so we will be done packing by tomorrow night and then we can leave first thing in the morning on Friday." So that is what we did. When we were all packed on Thursday night we went out for dinner one last time. I think we were all kind of sad but excited to go home and start our new lives together.


	20. Chapter 20

_A/N~ Thank you to all my faithful followers! Sorry this update has taken so long I am still waiting for the doctors to let me know what is going on. I love all your reviews! _

**Chapter 20**

The flight home seemed to take forever. By the time we got back home to the bat cave all we wanted to do was eat dinner and go to bed we would deal with calling our families in the morning. I was pretty sire my mother was going to kill me and Carlos thought the same about his mother. We all sat in front of the TV while we had dinner and watched "The Wizard of Oz". After the movie was over we all got ready for bed. The next morning came too soon.

I woke up around 5 am which was a shock to me but it was okay because I needed to figure how I was going to tell my family that Carlos and I got married without telling anyone. My mother was going to freak out that we aren't going to have a wedding here but I have thought up plan to make everyone feel like we did have the wedding here. So maybe she wouldn't take it so badly. The first thing I had to do was choose a "wedding" invitation to have printed and sent to all our friends and family. While I was thinking Carlos came back from his morning workout.

"I smell something burning Babe what are you thinking about?" He asked as he sat next to me on our bed.

"Trying to figure out how to tell my family we got married without them being there. Along with trying to plan our reception so that everyone feels like they were at our actual wedding. It's going to be a lot harder than I thought especially because it is the middle of November and the holidays are coming. I would like to get everyone together sooner rather than later." I told him as I wrapped my arms around his neck. "When are you going to tell your family?"

"I was hoping we could go over to my parents' house on Saturday night when my whole family will be there and tell them all at the same time." He told me cautiously. "That way you could meet everyone at one time and no one in my family will feel as left out. Why don't you call your mom later this morning and see if we can have dinner there one night this week? This way we will all be there and your family can meet Julie, I think it will take some of the attention away from us if we are introducing them to their new grand-daughter while we tell them we got married. Besides you already told your mom that I wanted to get married to you before you adopted Julie so maybe she will be more accepting that we got married right away." He kissed me lightly on the lips.

"I hope she isn't too mad when I lie to her and tell her we didn't have a video of the wedding made. I want everyone we care about to see it at the same time." He nodded his head in agreement. "Saturday night will be fine I'm sure my mother will want us over for dinner before then anyway don't be surprised if we are invited over tonight. My family is going to love Julie so much she is such a good girl and she will fit right in. I think I will have my mother invite Val and her clan over so that no one in my family is left out. Oh my God! Do you think Tank told Lula? I hope not because that means my mother will already know and she will kill me." I started to panic.

"Calm down Babe. Bobby and Lester are the only ones who know about us getting married. I figured we would tell everyone here after we talk to our families." I calmed down instantly.

"Thank God. You are an amazing man to have thought about that. Have I ever told you that I love you?"

"Not this morning." He teased me.

"Well I that case, Ricardo Carlos Manoso I love you. You are a great man and an amazing husband I don't know what I would do without you." Then I kissed him and this was no little peck on the lips this was a bone melting 'I want to rip your clothes off' kind of kiss and that is exactly what happened.

About an hour later we cuddled next to each other naked and out of breath. "Wow." Was all I could manage to say to him.

"I love you too Stephanie Michelle Plumb – Manoso. You are a beautiful, intelligent, amazing, crazy woman and I am so lucky to call you my wife." He kissed my temple. "I need to go shower now. I would ask you to come join me but we might kill ourselves if you do."

"Go take your shower after you get out I'll get in and then we can start our day. Speaking of starting our day we need to take about work."

"That we do Babe when we finish getting dressed we will talk about it." Then he walked out of the room and took his shower. After he got out of the shower I got in after I was done I got dressed. Nothing special today just a pair of sweatpants and a sweat shirt I didn't even do my makeup I was too tried. I plopped down next to him on the bed.

"So we really need to talk about working. Like how much more time you own on you military contract and what we are going to do to be safer now that Julie is here permanently." I said to him with extreme caution.

"I have three months left on my current contract and I wasn't planning on renewing it. Hopefully I will not be called out on any missions between now and then. As for what I plan on doing now that Julie is here I guess I stop the skip tracing and maybe just start a RangeMan training program that other companies can send their new agents to so that I will still be active. As for you working I was hoping that you would quit working for Vinny and start working for RangeMan doing research and maybe some of our other computer based work as well."

"You want me to be a secretary?" I asked him.

"No, I want you to be our HR department so that Tank will stop bitching about dealing with payroll and insurance policies. I would also like you to learn more about the security part of RangeMan so that current and prospective clients have a go to person in the company who they can talk to about issues or concerns and then can be forwarded to Tank, Bobby, Lester, or I so that we can more accurately address their concerns. Then maybe if you have time you can do research on the skips to make our apprehension go smother and possibly faster." I was in shock he wanted me to do all that. I just nodded my head. "Of course working for RangeMan you will have to sign the same contract everyone does. Which means you will have to go to the gym at least three times a week to work out, go to the gun range twice a week to practice with your gun and various other weapons we have here on site, eat healthy meals that are served here at lunch by Ella, and train in self-defense once a week." Then he gave me on of his 1000 watt smiles. I was going to kill this man.

"Three times a week? Are you trying to kill me?" I was about to freak out.

"Babe relax, you don't have to work out for a long time just an hour a day that's three hours a week believe me you won't die. If I didn't think you could do all this I wouldn't ask you to."

"You really have that much faith in me?" He nodded his head. "Then I will do everything in my power to make sure I don't disappoint you."

"You never disappoint Babe."


	21. Chapter 21

_A/N~ Thank you for all the reviews of the last chapter… Now it's time for everyone to find out the big secret! ENJOY!_

**Chapter 21**

I guess it is time now. Carlos and I have been sitting in bed talking for hours putting this off. I have been worrying about this phone call since 5:30 this morning and now that it was a little after nine I finally decided that I was going to put my big girl panties on and do it. "I'm going to call my parents." I picked up the phone and dialed my parent's number, my mother picked it up on the first ring.

"Plum residence?"

"Hi mom, it's Stephanie."

"Hi Stephanie, How is everyone?"

"We are all great how are you, dad and grandma doing?" God, why do I have to be such a chicken?

"We are fine just waiting for you to get home so that we can meet our new granddaughter. Well soon to be granddaughter. Have you and Carlos picked a date yet?"

"Well that is what I wanted to talk to you about. We got home really late last night and I didn't want to call you then because I thought you would be asleep. Carlos and I got married last week before we left Hawaii so that Julie would be my legal daughter before we came back her."

"Stephanie Michelle Plum-"

"It's Manoso now mom."

"Well whatever you are calling yourself these days. Gloria Jennings daughter doesn't call and tell her mother that she was married over a week ago and that she is home now. Why me? What were you thinking?"

"Mom, are you listening to me? I just told you I wanted it to be legal that Julie is my daughter before we left Hawaii. Carlos wanted us to be married when I adopted Julie so we got married on the beach it was just the three of us there and after we were married we signed the adoption papers. Mom it was so special for the three of us and I wouldn't want to do it any other way. Nothing could have made it any more meaningful."

"You couldn't invite your family?" I could hear her voice soften.

"Mom I had a big wedding once before and that didn't work out for me. This was truly amazing and I have no doubt that this is it."

"Okay as long as you are happy with it. So, when do I get to meet my new granddaughter then?"

"When do you want us to come over for dinner?"

"Valerie and her family will be here tonight I think we can handle three more people at the table."

"That would be wonderful mom. Are Grandma and Dad around?"

"Your father is about to leave do you want me to grab him before he does?"

"Yes, please mom"

"Hi, Pumpkin!" My father said

"Hi dad, I suppose you heard mom yelling at me."

"Yes I did. I am proud of you and I can't wait to meet Julie! I have to go now I will see you tonight though."

"Okay Daddy. Can you put Grandma on?"

"Is that you Stephanie?" I loved my Grandma Mazur.

"Yeah Grandma it's me!"

"Did I hear this right? You ran off and married the big bad bounty hunter with the nice package?"

"Yes Grandma Carlos and I got married while we were in Hawaii. I also adopted his daughter Julie.

"I thought she already had a mother."

"It is a long story why don't you ask mom about it because I don't really want to talk about it. She knows everything. All that matters is that she is mine and Carlos' daughter and we couldn't happier.

"Okay, Stephanie that's great I will see you for dinner tonight. I have to get going now I have an appointment at the clip and curl."

"Okay bye Grandma I will see you tonight."

I hung up the phone and handed it to Carlos. "Okay it's your turn now. OH by the way in case you didn't hear any of the conversation with my family we are having dinner over there tonight." He laughed at me.

"Just keep your grandmother away from me. I don't care how old or crazy she is, she still scares the crap out of me." I had to laugh.

"This coming from the man who can make serial killers shit their pants just by looking at them? That's hilarious. I never realized how funny you could be."

"Keep laughing about it Babe, just remember I have already met your whole family you have only met my parents. Just wait until you meet my abuela or any of my siblings yet." I stopped laughing. I went to get up.

"No stay with me, just because I can make fun of you meeting my family doesn't mean I'm not afraid to tell my mother I eloped." He dialed the phone and waited for someone to answer the phone. "Hola, Mama! We are all back in Trenton.", "Yes everyone is fine." , "I have something to tell you." , "Well Stephanie and I got married while we were in Hawaii and she adopted Julie at the same time." , "Yes Mama, we would love to come to dinner on Saturday. Stephanie needs to meet the rest of the family and I think it would be easier if it happened all at one time." , "That's great will you tell Abuela, and Papa for me?" , "Thank you Mama, we will see you on Saturday. I will have Julie call you before then." Then he hung up the phone. "That went so much better than I thought it would."

"It sound like you got off easy!"

"Just wait until Saturday; my mother will not be that easy on me." There was a knock on the door. "Come in." With that the door flew open and Julie took a running dive into our bed.

"So, when is Tia Ella coming with Breakfast?" She asked us. "I'm really hungry and I can't wait to see her."

"She should be up here any minute. Come on why don't we go wait in the living room I'm sure she would love to see us all and then we can tell her the good news." Julie and I looked at him funny. "I told you Steph, no one here knows except for Lester and Bobby."

"I know but Ella always seems to know everything that goes on." I told him. With that we all got up and walked into the living room just as Ella was walking in the door.

_A/N~ I'm gonna end this chapter here. What will everyone at RangeMan think about Steph and Ranger getting married? And how will they feel about Steph adopting Julie?_


	22. Chapter 22

_A/N~ Thank you for all your reviews! _

**Chapter 22**

"Tia Ella! I'm so glad to see you I feel like it has been forever since the last time I was up here. Guess what!" Julie said to Ella excitedly

"I'm so happy you are here I was very worried about you. Now what is it you want to tell me?" Ella asked her. Julie looked at Carlos and I to make sure it was okay to tell. We both nodded our heads.

"Daddy and Steph got married and then Steph adopted me! So she is Mama Steph to me now." Ella looked surprised but happy.

"Well it is about time the two of you realized what was right in front of you. Congratulations I am very happy for the three of you. When do you start school Julie?"

"Tomorrow, I am so excited but a little nervous." I looked at Julie.

"Jules don't be nervous you are in the same class as my niece Mary Alice you will meet her tonight. We are having dinner at my parents' house. They can't wait to meet you." I said trying to comfort her.

"Oh okay that is so much better than not knowing anybody at least I will know one person. Can we go school shopping? So I have all the materials I need. And maybe some new clothes too? None of the clothes I have are really okay for the weather here."

"That would be fine the three of us can go out after we eat breakfast. Ella would you like to join us?"

"No thank you my dear I ate earlier thank you though." Ella said before she walked out the door.

"That was way to calm for Ella. What's going on?" I asked Carlos.

"Babe I honestly have no idea but I'm scared. She seemed like she knew already. Damn it Santos!"

"Carlos, please don't jump to conclusions. Let's be rational about this. If it turns out that he is a leak I will kill him."

"Mama, please don't kill Lester he's my favorite cousin." Julie giggled.

"How about I just slap him a few times? I like having him around too but we all know what a big mouth he has." Carlos growled as I said this to Julie. "What you can be mad but I can't? You have called him to the mats more times than I can count for looking at me but I can't slap the crap out of him for leaking us getting married?" Julie laughed at the two of us.

"I don't know about the two of you but I am going to eat the breakfast Tia Ella made is smells like French toast and I don't plan on wasting it. Although I'm sure she made you plan bland no flavored oatmeal dad."

"I have never been so proud." I practically cried. "It's like I gave birth to you I hate his oatmeal!" The poor girl looked terrified.

"Mama Steph, are you going to be okay?"

"I'm just excited that I'm no longer the only person in the building who makes fun of how your dad eats! Everyone else eats the same way." Both Julie and I cringed.

"Okay ladies. Why don't we sit down and eat our breakfast?" Carlos said as he moved the food over to the dining room table. We sat and ate of breakfast with minimal conversation the three of us were still a little worn out from our trip. When we were done eating the three of us rinsed our plates and loaded the dish washer.

Once we ate and washed up we got ready to bring Julie to the mall to go shopping for school clothes and supplies. While at the mall I thought Carlos was going to kill himself I forgot how much he hated going to the mall. Then I remembered what a good bag carrier he was and it led me to believe I was the reason he hated the mall so much. Anytime I brought him shopping with me (whether I wanted him to come with me or not) he always carried all the bags and sometimes there were A LOT of bags. This was one of those days when there were a lot of bags.

After Ranger made a trip to the car to drop off all our bags he pulled me aside while Julie was looking at a coat. "Babe I will not bring my daughter into Victoria's Secret. There are some things I want to pick up and I want them to be surprises and before you, ask they are surprises for both of you so, no I will not tell you. If you buy our daughter a push up bra I swear on my life I will tell Lester about how ticklish you are. " He kissed me on the forehead and we joined Julie again. I had to laugh a little bit he was never one to be squeamish about anything so it amused me a little but to know that buying bras for his daughter freaked him out.

"Were you two just talking about me?" Julie asked me.

"Yes we were your dad was freaking out buying you bras, so when we go into Victoria's Secret he is going to pick something he needs up." I told her honestly well almost honestly.

"Wow dad!" was all she said.

When we were finally done shopping for all the things Julie would need for her new life in Trenton we got into the Cheyenne, among the many bags and drove back to RangeMan. I still didn't know what Carlos had up his sleeve but I was okay with that. I'm pretty sure this was the first time in my life that I was okay with knowing someone had a surprise for me usually I would be freaking out asking all sorts of questions about what the surprise was. Once we were at Haywood it took us two trips to get all of the bags up to the seventh floor. The three of us were spent. I was pretty sure Carlos still wasn't 100% but he wasn't saying anything about it which meant I was going to have to drag it out of him. Julie decided she was going to go lay down for a little bit I couldn't blame her she was still anemic so she tired easily. When I was sure her door was closed I sat down next to Carlos on the couch.

"Are you Okay?" I asked him.

"I'm just tired Babe, that's all." He told me

"You don't look too good your face is really pale and you have dark circles around your eyes. Maybe you should have Bobby check you out before we go to my parents tonight. If my mother sees you looking like this I will never hear the end of it."

"Babe I'm fine really I'm just really tired. I didn't really sleep at all last night and I worked out really hard at the gym this morning."

"A little too hard maybe?" He nodded his head. You can't do that right now. You are still healing you need to take it easy and try to relax a little bit!" He pulled me on to his lap.

"Babe what are we doing?" I could hear the stress in his voice. This was not going to be good.

"What do you mean what are we doing?"

"I mean getting married and then bringing Julie home with us. We don't know what we are doing. We don't know how to raise a child. We barely even know how to be a married couple. Are we even going to be able to do this?" Oh shit a scared Ranger not a scared Carlos this was a shitting his pants scared Ranger.

"We will most definitely be able to do this. I know neither one of us know what we are doing but we will learn together. We both have our families here to help us too. Don't forget about the merry men and Ella too. It won't be easy but nothing with the two of us has ever been easy. Please bring Carlos back Ranger is no fun. I love you." I hoped my pep talk would make him feel a little better.

"I have never been this scared in my life Babe. This is harder than any mission I have ever been on. I have never had to be responsible for a family or worry about something keeping me away from them. This is the first time Julie will be here for more than a couple of weeks and I don't know what to think." He put his chin on my shoulder. "I love you too Babe."

"We will figure this out together. When I married you and adopted Julie I meant what I said this is forever. When have we ever failed at anything when we work together? Other than the last time which doesn't really count because we had an unexpected kink that no one would have planned for." He thought for a few seconds but didn't say a word. "I believe the word you are looking for is never. We have never failed at anything, sure we have been confused about things a few time but we always worked it out. This is just one more thing we are going to work on together. I'm scared too but I know we will be fine and if we need help we have a huge support system of people who love us and love Julie. So just try to relax and take it easy no one except for you thinks you should be at 100% right now." He kissed my hair and I felt his body relax against the couch and we let ourselves fall asleep right there on the couch.


	23. Chapter 23

_A/N~ Thank you for all the reviews everyone!_

**Chapter 23**

We woke up about twenty minutes before we had to leave for my parents' house. Carlos was lightly kissing my neck trying to convince me it was time to get up. "I'll call and tell them we will come tomorrow I don't want to move." Then my stomach growled loudly.

"Wow, Mama Steph! Does your stomach always do that?" Julie asked from the hallway. Carlos laughed loudly.

"It has since the day I met her. Come on Babe we need to get up and get ready to go." He said kissing my forehead.

"It's true." I laughed a little. "My friend Mary Lou has been laughing about it since we were kids." I got up of Carlos' lap. "We should get ready to go. My family is really excited to meet you."

"What if they don't like me?" She asked me. "My own mother didn't even like me." She started to cry. I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her and tried to comfort her.

"Hey Julie it's going to be okay you have me and your Dad now and we will never let anyone hurt you again." Her body was shuddering with sobs, I felt helpless and then Carlos wrapped his arms around us both.

"Come on Julie it's okay. No one will ever hurt you like that ever again." Carlos was trying so hard to comfort her. After a little while she started to calm down a bit. "That's my girl, everything is okay." She threw her arms around his neck like a vice and started crying harder again.

"Daddy I wanted you to come save me so bad. But I was so afraid to call you and tell you. I'm sorry I put you and Mama through all of this if I just called I would have been here and you wouldn't have gotten shot." Carlos cupped her cheeks in his hands.

"Julie you stop that right now. There is no one to blame for this except for Rachel and Ron. They did this not you. I am sorry I let them take you away from me. Everything is going to be okay now." Julie nodded her head.

"I need to go wash my face and get changed Dad. I'll be back in a few minutes." She walked out of the room.

I walked over to Carlos and wrapped my arms around his neck. "She's going to be okay Carlos. I think she just needed to get that out."

"How could I let this happen Babe? I let them take her away from me. I didn't even fight for her."

"You did what you thought was best for her. You couldn't know that this was going to happen. If you knew you would have never let them do this. We knew she was going to have some tough times so just remember this is part of her healing." He hugged me. "I love you."

"Love you too Babe." He did his almost sigh and stretched his arms over his head. "We should get changed too." I nodded my head in agreement and we walked to our room and changed into fresh clothes. By the time we were dressed Julie was sitting in the living room waiting for us.

"I'm sorry about that guys it just still really hurts sometimes." I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

"It's okay we all have things from the past that still upset us sometimes. Just remember it is okay to talk to us about it. Yes, we might get mad about it but we will never be mad at you because of what happened. We are a family now and we are all learning how to function together which means we have to be honest with each other. Why don't we get going? My family is really excited to welcome you into it." Julie nodded at me and Carlos squeezed my head then we left for my parents' house. We all sat in silence on the fifteen minute ride.

When we pulled up my mother and grandma were standing at the front door waiting for us. Oh boy they better be nice. I swear to god I will kill my mother if she does anything to upset Julie. We all got out of the car and my mother came running and smothered Julie in a hug.

"Oh my God my new grandbaby!" My mother cried. Jeeze I thought she was going to be cold and distant, I couldn't be more wrong. "You can just call me Grandma. Come inside its freezing out here." Then she pulled Julie into the house without even saying hello to Carlos or me.

"Well are the two of you going to come in or are you going to let Helen corrupt with all her 'Burg talk?" My grandmother shouted to us while we were standing at the car in shock. We walked to the front door and grandma hugged me. "I'm real proud of you baby girl." Then she pinched Carlos' butt. "Like steal baby girl." She giggled to herself and walked into the house.

It was pure madness inside the house, apparently my mother decided to invite the entire 'Burg to meet 'her new grandbaby'. This was pure insanity. I don't know how many people said congratulations to me. The night was going along great I was able to introduce Carlos and Julie to most of the people who I have known since I was a kid. All of a sudden all the merriment came to a screeching halt when Joe walked into my parents' house. Then of course all hell broke loose.

"Cupcake!" Oh shit he is trashed. "What is this bull shit I heard that you married this thug and adopted his bastard child that no one wanted?" Shit Carlos is going to kill him.

"Joe you need to leave now. There is no reason for you to be here. I told you that there was no more me and you."

"Oh come on Cupcake, you said that to me all the time. We broke up two months ago and then you go run off to get married. I thought you never wanted to get married or have kids." I heard Julie start crying in the back of the room this was going to end now.

"Joe, get the fuck out of my parents' house. You are insulting me and my family. I hate you and I never want to see you again. If you must talk to me we are going to talk outside now you will have twenty minutes and then you will leave. That is all I am willing to offer and if that is not good enough then you can just turn around now."

"Babe, you don't have to do that he can just leave now. He is upsetting our daughter."

"Carlos you trust me right?" He nodded his head. "I do need to do this because he is upsetting our daughter. If I don't do this there will never be closure with me and Joe. There will still be problems and nothing will change. I have to do this for all of us." He nodded his head again. Julie looked terrified. "Julie you and I will talk about this later everything is going to be okay. Just remember nothing he said about you is true. I love you both more than you can imagine." She nodded her head and tried to smile.

I walked out to the front porch with Joe following me. I turned around to face him and I could see the regret on his face. I think that may have made me madder. "What the hell were you thinking Joe? You came to my parents' house when they were welcoming my husband and our daughter into the family, and then you single handedly ruined a night that should have been an amazingly happy night that no one expected me to ever have including myself." I was starting to tear up. "If you ever loved me how could you do this to me?"

"Oh Christ Cupcake, I don't know what I was thinking. This is killing me, knowing you have rejected every proposal from me. You broke up with me and then ran away with him to Hawaii and get married and adopt his daughter. You were gone for two months and now you are married and have a kid, two things you said you would never do. I'm sorry for cheating on you, for ruining tonight, for making your daughter cry. I don't know what the hell I am doing here." He turned to walk away.

"This isn't done Joe. You don't get to walk away right now." He stopped dead in his tracks.

"What happened over there? This is not the same Stephanie that left here two months ago."

"No Joe I am not the same Stephanie that left here two months ago, not even close. I was abducted, locked in a trunk, strapped to a chair, gagged, and pistol whipped by Carlos' bat shit crazy ex-wife because she thought we were married while we were undercover. To this day no one knows how the hell she found out where we were or how she thought we were married. Then when Carlos found me I watched as she shot him three times. When I could finally get to him he was lying in a pool of blood he told me that he loves me and then he passed out. I have been waiting years for him to say that to me without it being followed with 'in my own way' " Joe started to look pale. "We were brought to the hospital and I find out that Julie was there too and beaten with in an inch of her life. They beat her so bad that her spleen ruptured and had to be removed. On top of that Rachael gave up her parental rights of Julie so that she could get a lighter sentence. If you went through that you would be changed too. What it came down to was I was sitting in Julie's hospital room waiting for her to wake up from the sedation and when she came to she thanked me for being there with them and that did it for me. Joe I didn't plan for this to happen but I am beyond happy with the end result." He stared at me with a look that I wasn't sure what it meant.

"Wow, Stephanie I am so sorry I didn't know." Bull shit he didn't know.

"Yeah Joe a lot of people didn't know but they didn't treat me the way you did. You made my daughter cry." I was starting to get angry all over again. "You son of a bitch, you fucking son of a bitch." Oh boy rhino mode has set in. "You verbally attack me in my parents' house in front of my whole family. I don't know what you were thinking nor do I really care what you were thinking but you have one hell of a nerve. I am happy now and there is nothing you can do to change the fact that this is what makes me happy. You stopped making me happy a long time ago which is why Carlos poached the way he did because he knew you were bad for me. You will stay away from me, my husband, and most of all my daughter. If I see you anywhere even remotely close to her I will kill you. You need to leave now. I don't want you here and neither does my family." He walked down the walkway and stopped at the end.

"Did I ever have a chance at having a family with you?"

"No not ever." He nodded his head and left. When I was content that he was not coming back I walked back inside.

When Julie saw me she ran up to me and hugged me. "Are you okay Mama Steph? You look like you have been crying."

"I'm okay now." I took a deep breath. "You know everything Joe said about you was a lie right?" She nodded her head. "Are you having a good time? I saw you hanging out with my nieces."

"Yeah I am. I can't wait for school tomorrow, Mary Alice and I have almost the same schedule. The only class that is different is that she is in band and I am in chorus. DO you mind if I go talk some more?"

"No, not at all, the whole point of tonight is so that you could meet the family. Go have fun, I love you." With that she was off. Carlos came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Everything okay Babe?"

"Everything is wonderful. I have an amazing husband and daughter and on top of that this is the best I have ever got along with my mother in my life. I wouldn't change anything."

After we all talked a little more we had dinner and desert. Everyone started filing out one by one and by the time we got home all of us were ready for bed. Tomorrow was a big day for Julie and I hoped it would go well.

I sat up in bed thinking for a while. I must have been really deep in thought because I didn't notice when Carlos came into our room. "What are you thinking about Babe?"

"Just thinking about how lucky I am. I have a husband who is the most amazing man I know and a daughter who I love more than life itself. I could have lost you both in Hawaii but I didn't and I couldn't be more grateful. I love you Carlos."

"I love you too Babe let's get some sleep." We both laid down in bed under the blankets and shut off our bedside lights. I cuddled my back to his front.

"Good night Carlos. Wake me up when you go to the gym in the morning."

"Good night Babe. I will see you in the morning."


	24. Chapter 24

_A/N~ okay I had over 700 views and 5 reviews… I might hold the next chapter hostage… Thank you to all of you who did review. Who is ready for the craziness?_

**Chapter 24**

I woke up about twenty minutes before the alarm clock went off and I knew something wasn't right. My stomach was not happy at all, I was overly hot, and very dizzy. I sat up in bed and realized I had to run to the bathroom. I spent the next twenty minutes with my head in the toilet. I heard my alarm going off and I got up to turn it off when another wave of nausea came over me. I guess I wasn't turning my alarm off. I don't know how much longer I was in there before Carlos can running into the bathroom after he got back from the gym. Thank god he turned off my stupid alarm clock.

"Babe are you alright? Julie called the control room and said your alarm clock has been going off for fifteen minutes and you were in the bathroom throwing up."

"I've been in here since twenty minutes before my alarm went off. I tried to get up to go turn it off and it just made it worse." Then I started throwing up again.

"I'm going to bring Julie to school and then I will call the doctor." Then a light bulb went off in my head.

"What is todays date?"

"November 12th. Why do you ask Babe?"

"Shit." I screamed. "Is this some sick joke? Are you sure it's the 12th?" He nodded his head. "SHIT!"

"Babe, care to tell me why you keep yelling shit?"

"Well, you might want to sit down." I wouldn't talk again until he sat down on the floor next to me. He took my hand and squeezed it.

"Babe, you want to tell me what is going on? I am drawing my own conclusions and they are kind of scaring me." I took a deep breath.

"I am four days late."

"Late for what? We have been in Hawaii for two months."

"I think I might be pregnant. My period is four days late." I threw up again. "Shit." I whispered this time.

"Oh okay." He looked like he was going to faint. Just then Julie stormed in the bathroom.

"Oh my God Mama!" She screamed. "Did you just say you are pregnant?"

"No I said I might be pregnant." Carlos still looked like he was going to pass out. "Can you go get your dad a bottle of water? He doesn't look too good." She nodded and walked out. When she was out of earshot I growled at Carlos. "You cannot panic right now or I will kill you! Calm down because if you keep panicking I am going to lose it. We will drop Julie off at school and then we will go to the pharmacy and buy a pregnancy test. When we get back here I will take it and then we will figure it out from there. If I am actually pregnant you can freak out then. Do not freak out in front of Julie! I feel better now. I am going to brush my teeth and get dressed. You should take a shower." I was brushing my teeth when he finally got up off the floor. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my shoulder.

"No matter what everything will be fine. Sorry I freaked out I was just a little shocked." What he did next shocked me beyond all belief. He turned me around to face him then he kissed my cheek and reached between us and rubbed my belly. Most shocking of all he bent down and kissed my belly then whispered in my ear. "I hope you are pregnant. I would be so happy to see you pregnant with our child."

_A/N~ That is all for no_w. _I need some review love before you guys get the rest….._


	25. Chapter 25

_A/N ~ Thank you for all the reviews (Or comments I guess they are called now) And for the record everyone it's not Batbaby its RangeBabe hence the name of the story silly people!_

**Chapter 25**

We dropped Julie off at school making her promise not to tell Mary Alice about the possible baby on board. On our way back to RangeMan we stopped at the pharmacy. I walked in and quickly found the pregnancy tests they had five different kinds so I bought one of each. When I got back out to the car Carlos looked at me and smiled.

"Are you sure you got enough?"

"Don't make fun of me! I wanted to make sure we have a definite answer! I was being thorough." He chuckled a little and kissed me on the cheek.

"Are you sure you want to take the test yet? Is there any way you miss counted?"

"Yes I want to take the test! I don't think I counted wrong. I guess we will find out in a little while."

"Babe just because I said I would be happy if you are doesn't mean I will be upset if you aren't. We can keep trying."

"I know, don't worry. I'm not going to freak out either way. If I am pregnant Great! If I'm not we will just have to keep trying until I am." We drove the rest of the way home in silence. The ride felt like it took hours.

When we got back to the apartment I went straight to the bathroom and read all the instructions for all the tests. "Carlos do we have five paper cups?" I yelled from the bathroom.

"Yeah we do Babe hold on I will bring them to you." He brought them to the bathroom. He walked in and laughed when he saw me sitting on the counter with my knees to my chest looking at all the different directions. "Studying for a test Babe?" He laughed. I had to admit it was pretty funny. Then he just stood in front of me and stared.

"Go in the other room so I can pee in a cup. I am going to pour it into the rest and then stick the tests in. The longest one takes five minutes so I will come out and then we can wait and look together." He nodded his head and walked out. So I did what I had to do and then went to the living room to sit and wait with him.

We sat in silence waiting for the timer to go off. I thought the ride home felt like a long time but this felt so much longer. Then there was a ding! We both got up and ran into the bathroom.

"So how are we going to do this Babe? Am I looking at them or are you? "

"You look I'm too nervous I might spill th'e pee everywhere!" I laughed and Carlos went over to the counter to read the tests.

"Are you ready Babe?" I nodded my head. "Okay 1st test Positive, 2nd test Positive, 3rd test Positive, 4th test Positive, and the 5th test positive." He turned around and wrapped his arms around me. "We are having a baby Babe! I love you so much."

"Oh my God we're having a baby I can't believe it! How is it the two of us who never wanted to get married again or have children have done both in less than a year?"

"I don't know Babe but I'm happy we did!"

"Me too. I love you." He put his hand on my belly.

"I love you both."


	26. Chapter 26

_A/N~ Thank you for all the reviews! I'm not sure how I am going to do the set up for nine months but I guess I will figure it out! Sorry for how long this chapter took to get out. _

**Chapter 26**

Carlos and I decided to call in sick for the day because we were so excited and we didn't want to tell the Merry Men before we told our families.

"So Babe, when are we going to tell our parents'?"

"I was thing we should get everyone together as soon as possible and tell everyone at the same time. That way no one hears it from anyone else. We need to do it soon because it is not fair to ask Julie to keep that kind of secret."

"We could always have everyone over for dinner."

"Or we could not." Although it would get everything out of the way. "Actually that is a really good idea, we can have everyone over tomorrow night. I will call my mother and Val they will make sure the rest of my family gets here."

"I will go call my mother right now so she doesn't plan on cooking anything. You do realize that I have a really big family right?" I nodded my head. "Why don't we use one of the safe houses the one on the beach has a huge dining room, it will fit everyone." He proceeded to walk out of his room to call his family. I did the same and called my mother and sister explaining to them it was very important and that someone will be there to pick them up.

When Carlos came out of his office about an hour later, he looked physically drained I could tell that his family had given him a run for his money. "Have fun Carlos?"

"Perhaps this is not such a great idea Babe. My family is a little much. I think my sisters were trying to make me shoot myself."

"For some reason I find that a little hard to believe. Maybe they are just excited to meet your wife or maybe they just want to see their niece." He practically growled at me. "Relax it will be fine. The only thing we have to figure out is the food. I hope you have a plan because I can't cook."

"I was thinking about calling a couple of local restaurants and getting a little bit of everything."

"That sounds like a good idea. Are you going to invite Ella?"

"I think that would be a good idea too bad for the guys they are going to have to figure out dinner for themselves." He and I both started laughing at the thought. The merry men were good at almost everything but I don't know how well any of them can cook. "Speaking of food why don't we eat something. Is there anything you want me to cook?"

"Some yogurt with fruit and granola would be great." He looked like he was going to fall over. "What I need to start eating better." Then I rubbed my belly. "Only the best for the Rangebabe. Is it weird I love it so much already?"

"Babe you never disappoint and no it is not weird. I love it too, I feel like a child waiting for Christmas it is going to be a long nine months waiting for our baby." We walked into the kitchen and got our food together. When we sat down to eat I got back up and grabbed a jar of honey. Carlos just stared at me.

"What it is plain yogurt and it is local honey so it is good for my allergies. I can't take allergy medicine anymore so this is better for the baby." Then he almost made me hit the floor when I saw him take a spoonful of honey and put it on top of his breakfast.

"What it sounded like a good idea Babe."

"Okay, I was just surprised you are normally all uptight about sweets. By the was this is really good."

"Yes it is Babe. You look really tired why don't we go lay down. I'm sure throwing up as much as you did this morning took a lot out of you. Plus it gives me an excuse to hold you and our baby." We finished eating and went to lay down. Once we were cuddled together in bed I fell right to sleep.


	27. Chapter 27

_A/N~ thanks for the reviews! This is going to be a short chapter. Time to go get Julie and let her know she is going to be a big sister! I need your help though. Do you guys want me to write a few (4 or 5) chapters about the pregnancy or should I just make a chapter going through the pregnancy and get to the birth quickly? I need to know soon so that I can get prepared. Right now there will be two more chapters about telling everyone about the marriage and the baby so let me know!_

**Chapter 27**

I woke up to Carlos kissing my neck normally this would make me want to jump him but today waking up was just not my thing at all. I immediately jumped up ran to the bathroom and proceeded to throw up everything in my stomach. I think our baby might be trying to kill me.

"Babe are you okay?" Carlos asked me as he walked into the bathroom to check on me.

"I think our baby is trying to kill me."

"Did I do something wrong?" He looked concerned.

"No it just doesn't like to be woken up. I need to brush my teeth."

"Well I wonder where that trait comes from."

"Not the time Carlos!" He walked out of the bathroom shaking his head. For some reason I feel like he is laughing at me. I finished brushing my teeth and walked out into the living room where he is sitting. "Okay I feel better now. Your joke before was funny I was just upset to be throwing up again."

"I hope this gets better for you Babe I'm sorry I can't help this be any better."

"Did you really expect me to have an easy pregnancy? Nothing I have ever done in my life has been easy. I will be fine as long as our baby is healthy. So I was thinking maybe we should go pick up Julie early from school and then go out for a nice dinner somewhere away from Trenton and tell her our good news." He raised an eyebrow at me. "Oh come on she must be dying to know! Plus I think she will need a couple hours cool down time to make sure she doesn't freak out and say something where someone will hear about it."

"You are probably right Babe. Does Philly sound alright for dinner? I know a really nice place to go."

"Where ever you want to go. I just want some good food and maybe a Philly cheese steak."

"I thought you wanted to eat better Babe?" He laughed at me a little.

"I do but if we are in Philly it is a must for me to have a cheese steak. That's just not right to neglect it would be un-American."

"Okay Babe whatever you want. Be warned though when you feel like you are going to explode because you ate too much I am just going to laugh at you. We should probably get going if you want to get to Philly with enough time to eat a cheese steak and dinner." We got up and walked out the door to go get Julie.

When we got to the school to pick up Julie she seemed upset we were there. "Why are you guys picking me up early?"

"We are going to Philly for dinner let's get in the car." That was all she needed to hear and she ran out to the car before she started to go crazy.

"Oh my God you guys are having a baby aren't you?" I nodded my head and she let out a shriek.

"This is why I suggested going away for dinner so we could all be excited without anyone finding out before we told them." I said to Carlos.

"I guess you were right Babe."

"Well what are we having for dinner isn't it kind of early?" Julie asked us.

"Well the pregnant wonder over here" Carlos pointed at me. "Wants a cheese steak and dinner so maybe we can get some cheese steaks and then walk around for a little while then after that we can go have dinner." I nodded my head.

"Yeah Dad that sounds like a really good idea I haven't been to Philly since the last time you took me."

"Julie that was when you were nine I think it's time for another trip."

Philly was really uneventful thank God. We had a great time just being a family and walking around. I made a mental note that we would have to do a couple more mini trips before the baby came. My cheese steak was amazing and definitely hit the spot. Carlos brought Julie and I into a small boutique and bought us each a nice outfit for dinner. Of course the always prepared Carlos Manoso had a suit stashed in his car "just in case". The man killed me he was always ready for anything. Dinner was wonderful we sat in the back of a beautiful little restaurant that had food that was to die for. After dinner we walked around for a little while before we headed home. It was starting to get cold so we got in the car and went home.

_**A/N ~ Please let me know how you think I should write about the pregnancy I haven't decided which Idea I like better so your opinion would be very helpful!**_


	28. Chapter 28

_A/N~ Time to tell the families! Thank you for the reviews!_

**Chapter 28**

Today is the day. I hope Carlos planned for his family to be picked up early because I want to tell them we are married before we tell them we are having a baby. I felt Carlos crawl back into bed with me. "How are you feeling this morning Babe?"

"I already threw up while you were at the gym so we are safe to cuddle now. Did you plan for your family to be dropped off earlier than mine so that we can tell them we got married in Hawaii before we tell them about the baby?"

"Already planned for Babe, my family will be arriving about an hour before your family."

"Do you plan on telling me about your family before I meet them? I don't want them to think that I don't care who they are."

"Well Babe I have six sisters and one brother. Celia is 41 and a Doctor, Lissa is also 41 and she is a lawyer, Amelia is 39 and an Accountant, Christina is 38 and a marine biologist, Marco is 36 and a F.B.I. analyst, Daniela is also 36 and a professional ballet dancer, Maya is 34 and a teacher."

"Wow your poor mother two sets of twins! That's crazy!"

"All the Manoso's have twins Babe." What did he just say?

"Are you serious?" Panic starting to set in.

"Yeah, my father was a twin and my grandfather was a twin. All my siblings with kids have at least one set of twins and it is usually the first pregnancy."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute what are you trying to tell me here."

"I'm just saying there is a good possibility that we are going to have twins."

"Hold the phone Ricardo Carlos Manoso back up what did you just say to me? Did you seriously just tell me that there is a good chance we are having twins?"

"That is exactly what I just said. Babe calm down it will be fine either way one baby or two."

"Where are we going to live? This is only a two bedroom apartment Julie needs her own room. The baby or babies are going to need their own room how the hell are we going to pull that off." I was starting to hyper-ventilate, I knew I was out of control but I couldn't stop. "How are we going to find the perfect house in nine months and then have it ready to move in before I have the baby? Oh my God Carlos what are we going to do?"

"The first thing that is going to happen is you are going to calm down you are out of control. Second is that I have a surprise to show you after we drop Julie off at school." He sat up, moved down to the foot of the bed and started to rub my feet.

"Do I get this the whole time I'm pregnant? I could get use to this Carlos." I felt myself start to calm down. "Have I told you how much I love you this morning?"

"No but you can show me later. Relax Babe it is not good for you or the baby for you to be this stressed about anything."

"I know it's just the twin thing kind of caught me off guard and it was a downward spiral from there. Thank you for calming me down. I love you."

"I love you too Babe. Why don't you go take a shower before we have breakfast then we will drop Julie off. I really want to show you something after we drop her off." I got up off the bed and kissed Carlos and then I got into the shower. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what he wanted to show me but he has never given me a bad surprise and I don't expect him to do so now. When I got out of the shower breakfast was waiting for me on the table. It looked amazing pancakes with blueberry sauce on top my mouth was watering.

"Good morning Mama!" Julie walked up to me and rubbed my belly. "Good morning baby! I can't wait to meet the baby." I hugged her.

"Just remember Jules you can't say anything to anyone yet. We are getting the whole family together tonight to tell them about the baby."

"It is going to be really hard but I think I can handle it." Carlos came out and we sat down to eat. It was amazing as always!. We all sat down and ate breakfast. It tasted as amazing as it looked Ella was definitely some sort of a goddess. I spent the rest of my time eating thinking about the kind of goddess Ella should be.

"Hey Babe, are you still there?"

"Yeah I'm just thinking that Ella is a Goddess."

"I was waiting for you to say that I don't think I have heard that phrase in a while."

"What I appreciate her cooking I don't know what to tell you."

"You appreciate almost everyone's cooking Babe."

"For the most part yeah I do. I love food! I think our baby loves food too, the past two days anytime I eat I feel great after."

"This is different from normal?" Julie thought Carlos was being hilarious.

"Yes it is Carlos before I just felt satisfied but now I feel renewed or something."

"Okay well Babe we need to get going or Julie is going e for to be late for school." We all got up and went down to the garage into the cayenne and brought Julie to school.

"I promise I will not say anything to anyone about the baby until after you tell everyone. I am so excited! Love you guy's bye!" Then Julie jumped out of the car and ran into the school.

"So Carlos where to now?"

"It's a surprise Babe. Believe me Babe you are going to like it." He started driving.

"Okay, well you drive and I am going to close my eyes for a little while. I am exhausted. When are we going to tell the Merry Men about the wedding and the baby?"

"I was thinking we would have a meeting tomorrow morning after we drop Julie off at school. Of course they might already know because Lester will be at dinner tonight."

"That would be a good idea we need to get back to work I'm sure Tank is ready to kill us leaving him with all the paper work. Speaking of Tank did you invite him to dinner tonight?"

"Yes I did Babe. He may not be related to me by blood but he is my family, he has saved my ass more times than I can count."

"Good! Okay I am going to go to sleep now. I love you."

"I love you too. Get some rest we have about another half an hour before we get there." That was all I needed to hear before I fell asleep.

I woke up when Carlos put the car in park. He kissed me lightly and then pointed in front of us and smiled. We were parked in front of a huge house. It was beautiful tutor style house. I wonder what we are doing here. "Where are we Carlos? What is this house?"

"This is where we are going to have dinner tonight. I have called a few different restaurants to deliver food a mix of everything so that everyone has something they like. I wanted to show you the house because I was thinking that if you like it we can move in here. Clearly there is plenty of room for the two of us and some kids. Plus it is pretty close to Haywood and our families. We also have it set up with all our security needs." Well now I feel like an idiot he has thought of everything. "You are not an idiot Babe you are just worried about our family. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier but I figured if I told you that I would be driving you here at midnight when I thought about it."

"Out loud?" He nodded. "You are probably right I would have been too excited to not see it right away. It is beautiful out here. Can we look at the rest?" He took my hand and led me through the front door.

"Don't freak out when we get inside it is really big and pretty plain right now but we can change that all before we move in."

"Okay can you tell me about it as we go?" He nodded his head.

"First I want to show you the inside of the house and then we will go look at the back yard which you will love." The first room he showed me was the kitchen, it was amazing there were stainless steel appliances and sink with a butcher board counter. There was also an island in the middle with a second sink in it. The next room we went into was the dining room and I understood why he said we should have the families over here for dinner it was gigantic the table could easily seat thirty people. After the dining room he showed me the den which was the perfect room to just sit back and watch T.V. in. The living room was next on our list, it was a little plain for my liking but it will be a great place to sit down with everyone in when we tell them our great news later tonight. We went into an empty room that will be perfect for a play room when we start decorating before we move in. That was all for the first floor so we walked up the stairs in the foyer to the second floor.

The first room on the second floor Carlos showed me was his office it was perfect for him it was paneled in mahogany with a deep red stain on it there was a huge mahogany desk that was a few shades darker than the walls with a black leather chair behind it. The next room on the agenda was what he called the princess suit that would be Julie's bedroom and bathroom I'm pretty sure it was bigger than my apartment when I lived by myself. There were four guest bedrooms that were white with a bed and a dresser in them we would change that when we redecorated because they were just boring. Then he showed me what will be the nursery there was enough room for two cribs if we needed them and it would be wonderful for a baby. Last on the second floor he showed me our room, it was beautiful it had a charcoal rug, a black framed king bed with midnight blue and black bedding, and the walls were a light grey this room would not change at all it was just right for us. The master bathroom was also perfect it had a black marble floor, a huge glass shower stall with the same tile on the walls, a grey Jacuzzi tub with enough room for eight of me, and a vanity with double sinks. Honestly with some paint and a little more furniture the house will be perfect.

After he showed me the second floor we went back down stairs where there was also a gym off of the kitchen and it connected to the garage that was already full of cars. I was not going to address the car situation today simply because I didn't really care all that much the house is going to be amazing.

"Okay Babe there is one more thing I want to show you before you make final judgment on the house." I nodded my head and then we walked out into the back yard. I think my jaw hit the ground. I thought the inside of the house was beautiful but once I saw back here the house could have been a wreck and I would still want to live here. It was like out of a magazine there were huge gardens that would be gorgeous when spring and summer came there would be so many colors this was not going to be changed at all. Then I saw the huge pool area as we walked farther into the yard. It was fenced in with a pool house and a hot tub but the pool was the star of the show out here it was just fabulous. I couldn't wait for the summer so that we can all go swimming in it.

"Oh my God Carlos it is amazing. All we need is some paint in furniture and it will be absolutely perfect. I don't want to change our room at all though that it already perfect. Julie will be able to pick out the stuff for her room she is old enough to decorate it herself. I don't want to paint the nursery before we find out how many babies we are having. The play room needs some stuff but that we don't have to rush. The guest rooms just need some paint and maybe a small night table or something to make it a little more homey in there. But I love it here this is the perfect house for us." I knew my mouth was going a mile a minute but I couldn't help it the house was everything I wanted for us. Carlos laughed a little with how excited I was. My God hearing that laugh never got old.

"I'm glad you like it Babe." I cut him off.

"I don't like it I love it." Before I could get started again he kissed me.

"Well I'm glad because I have a decorator meeting us here in an hour to discuss some of the changes we want to make." My husband is truly the perfect man.


	29. Chapter 29

_A/N~ Thank you for all your great reviews. No you guys cannot have Ranger!_

**Chapter 29**

The appointment with the decorator went great the house was going to look amazing once it was finished. The big perk was that there were no structural changes needed to be made so the redecorating wouldn't take too long.

"Hey Babe, when are you going to call the doctor to set up your first appointment?"

"I will call tomorrow."

"I'd like to go to the appointment with you if that is okay."

"Of course it is Carlos. This is your baby too if you want to come with me to appointments I would love that." He kissed me and my stomach growled.

"I have a picnic basket in the car let me go get it and we can eat and then we can go lay down until Julie gets here."

"You think of everything don't you?"

"I try Babe." He walked outside and got our lunch which was grilled chicken salad and yogurt with fresh strawberries. It was pretty yummy. "Wow Babe you didn't complain about salad for lunch?"

"It was good. But now I am tired can we go lay down now."

"When we go to the doctor I want you to ask about what kind of exercises you can do. I know my sisters did yoga and they said it helped them when they were in labor." He took my hand and we started walking upstairs.

"I will do anything that will help me with labor. I am so afraid to be in pain." We got to the bedroom and I looked around again and realized that the room had pictures of Julie in it. "This was never really a safe house was it?"

"Well yes and no at first it was a safe house but there were times when I came back from missions I would come here and hide out for a while. Especially when I knew you were seeing Morelli because I couldn't go sit in your room and watch you sleep." He kissed my forehead. "Let's lay down Babe. You are starting to look worn out." We both crawled into bed.

"Carlos. How long did you have these rings? I mean there in no way your grandmother and I have the same size ring finger." He took a deep breath and let it out.

"Since I realized I was an asshole for sending you back to Morelli." I looked at him expecting more of an answer. "About a week after I sent you back to him. I was just waiting for him to screw up so I could step in. Go to sleep Babe that's not important anymore. I love you."

"I love you too." I fell right to sleep. For the love of god this baby did not like waking up at all every time I woke up I would throw up violently. This is going to be a long nine months. Julie walked in the bathroom after I was in there for a while.

"Are you okay? You have been in here for like a half an hour."

"I'm okay; the baby doesn't like to be woken up ever." She laughed at me. "Okay well dad wanted me to bring you this bag he said it has towels, clothes, a tooth brush, tooth paste, a hair brush, and some of your make-up in it. He also said that his family will be here in an hour so you might want to start getting ready."

"Really, an hour? He couldn't have woken me up a little earlier?"

"I don't know Mama he's busy pacing and muttering to himself about everyone better be on their best behavior or something like that."

"I have never seen it before. I'll be down stairs take your shower." She walked out. I hope she will be able to calm him down because I was definitely too nervous to do it myself. I think my shower was the quickest one I have ever taken in my life I did my hair and makeup now I had to see what Carlos picked out for me to wear. Good just jeans and a thermal shirt nothing dressy which made my life much easier. When I was done getting dressed I went down stairs to find Carlos pacing in front of the door. I walked in front of his to make him stop.

"You are going to wear a hole in the floor and then we are going to have to call Jeff to have him come do this floor too. Relax this is a good thing lets go sit down in the living room and wait for everyone to get here."

"I can't sit still Babe; I'm not worried about people's reactions I just want to tell them the good news!"

"Carlos how cute, you are like a kid on Christmas!"

"Babe I don't do cute."

"Listen I said it was cute and I mean it! I have never seen you like this before and it is cute that you are this excited about our baby! Don't argue with me about it."

"You never disappoint Babe! I love you." He put his hand on my belly and kissed my forehead. "For the record yes I am like a kid on Christmas except Christmas is nine months away." There was a knock on the door I went into the living room while Carlos answered the door. A mob of thirty or so people followed Carlos into the living room. "Everyone this is my wife Stephanie." He announced taking my hand. Well I guess that was one way to let the cat out for the bag. "We got married while we were in Hawaii. She has also adopted Julie." Everyone's mouth dropped open. I don't know if they were more surprised about us getting married or me adopting Julie. Then Julie came running into the room and ran into her grandmothers arms.

"Abuela did they tell you the good news?" She nodded.

"I must say it took the two of you long enough. I saw this coming when Carlos was in the hospital two years ago." She smiled at Carlos and me. "She loves both of you very much Julie. I saw it in her eyes when she was sitting in the hospital waiting for your father to wake up." Everyone else still stood there in shock. She turned and addressed her other children. "What are you all staring at I know you were raised better than that. Go congratulate your brother and introduce yourselves to his wife." She walked up to us. "Congratulations both of you. Welcome to the family Stephanie you will call me Mama from now on." She and he husband hugged us and walked away with Julie.

The first person to introduce themselves were Celia and he husband. "Hi Stephanie it is nice to finally meet you we have heard so many things about you. I am Celia this is my husband Luis and our children Noel, Lauren, and our twins Maria and Lilly."

The next people who came up were Lissa and her family. "Hi I am Lissa this is my husband Javier and our children Lucas and Ricardo they are twins and Lauren and Mikayla who are also twins."

Next up were Amelia and her husband. "I am Amelia it is nice to meet you. This is my husband Mateo and our children Carrie and Roberto." They were clearly twins for the love of god he wasn't lying about the twin thing.

Christina and Manuel introduced themselves next. "Hi Stephanie it is nice to finally meet you I feel like you have been part of the family for years. This is my husband Manuel and our daughter Jennifer."

"I'm Marco and this is my wife Domenica. These are our children Jacob and Anthony." Then they walked away I noticed some tension between him and Carlos I would have to ask him about that later after everyone left.

The next people who walked up to us looked like they were models this had to be Daniela and her husband. "Hi I am Daniela I am so glad to meet you. This is my husband Alejandro. Please take good care of my brother and my niece."

Finally there was only one more sibling left who was no other than Maya. "I have been waiting to meet you for years ever since my parents told me about you sitting by Carlos' hospital bed after he got shot. Oh my gosh I am so rude this is my husband Steve. This is our daughter Jessica she is four months old today. Just let me know if you want to hold her you two get first dibs today."

We mingled with everyone for a little while longer and then my family showed up and we introduced them all to each other. While everyone was getting to know each other Carlos and I slipped into the kitchen and got everything ready to be put out on to the table. Once all the places were set we called everyone in for dinner. When everyone was settled at the table Carlos and I stood up but I let him do the talking. "Stephanie and I would like to thank you all for coming over for dinner tonight and we hope that we are able to get our families together often. I'm sure you are all wondering why we asked you all to come over for dinner tonight well we have some amazing news for you. We are having a baby and we wanted to share that with all of you before we told anyone else."

_A/N~ Next up everyone's reactions. _


	30. Chapter 30

_A/N~ Thank you for all of your lovely reviews. I'm sorry I left you hanging but I wanted to get a chapter out to you guys and if I did the reactions it would have taken longer and the chapter would haven so long. So here are the reactions for you guys!_

**Chapter 30**

Everyone sat there in stunned silence for a few seconds and then my mother spoke up. Dear god why did my mother have to speak up first. "Stephanie Michelle are you telling us that you got married because you are pregnant? How could you do that to your family? Gina Sangallo's daughter doesn't run away to Hawaii because she is having a hard time and then get knocked up and force a good man into marriage."

"How dare you mother? You have gone too far. I did not run away Carlos had a job he needed my help with and it just so happened that Joe wanted to be a dick the night before and for the two years before that. To be honest I don't give a damn what Gina Sangallo's daughter does the only reason she 'doesn't get knocked up' is because she has had four abortions. Yes Carlos is a good man but I didn't force him into marriage he proposed to me when I told him that I wanted to adopt Julie. If you don't like it you can leave."

"Do not speak to me that way Stephanie, although I am not surprised you have always been an embarrassment on this family. Why not add something else for the ladies of the 'burg to gossip about?"

"Get out! I cannot believe that I thought something had changed between us. I honestly thought you were being supportive but that was a load of crap. I do not need this and neither does my family. If you cannot be supportive of me or my family we do not need or want you here. Ask one of the men by the door to take you home. Daddy, Grandma the two of you are more than welcome to stay and someone will bring you home later." My father got up and gave me a hug and a kiss.

"Congratulations pumpkin. I will try to talk some sense into her. I will see you soon with or without your mother."

"Good for you Steph I am proud of you for finally standing up to her." My Grandma said. "Are you still renting your apartment? If you are I would love to take over the lease on it. She has been unbearable since you left for Hawaii."

"I can't believe you brought another woman like this into the family." His brother muttered. "Another loose mouthed, disrespectful, white woman is just what this family needs." I could see that Carlos was about to say something but Julie beat him to it.

"Excuse me? I know you did not just compare her to the woman who gave birth to me. She is nothing like Rachel! Yeah she says what is on her mind and doesn't care what people think about it. How dare you call her disrespectful? She took me in and wanted to be my mother after the woman who was supposed to be my mother kidnapped her and beat her. You can leave too you know Mr. I'm a top F.B.I. analyst. Guess what? No one cares. If you cannot respect my mother and my father get out!" By the end she was screaming and on the verge of tears. I wanted to cut Marco's throat out for upsetting her that much. Carlos had enough when he saw how upset Julie was.

"You!" He said pointing at Marco. I thought he was going to throw him out the window. "Get the hell out of my house and stay the hell away from my family. I know the two of us have our issues but don't you dare take that out on them." He grabbed Marco by the back of his shirt and dragged him to the door. "I am not even close to joking right now get your family and get out of my house you prick." Domenica grabbed their kids and hustled them out the door. Carlos sat back down next to Julie and me. "Now if anyone else had any other negative things to say keep them to yourself and leave I am pretty sure I have no more control left in my body to deal with anyone else's crap." After that everyone else offered their congratulations and we ate dinner and dessert without any more drama. We could tell the older and younger guests were getting tired so everyone started to leave. The last to leave were Carlos' parents. As they were leaving his mother pulled me aside.

"Estefanía we are so proud to have you in our family I am truly sorry for our other son's reaction he has always treated Carlos poorly. I would like to help you as much as I can during your pregnancy so please call me if you need anything at all. Also give your mother some time to come around she might surprise you. We will see you soon please tell Carlos to come visit us more."

"I will Mama thank you so much for your kind words I really needed them tonight. Get home safe and please call when you want to get together. Maybe you Julie and I could have lunch together one Saturday."

"That would be great Estefanía. I will see you soon." Then they left giving us all hugs."

The three of us were exhausted it had been a really eventful night. Julie turned to Carlos and I. "Can we sleep here tonight? I can't imagine getting in the car and falling asleep and having to wake up and go upstairs."

"That is fine we can stay in our home tonight but I want us to stay in the apartment once the construction starts." Carlos answered her.

"Okay I'm going to go to bed now then. Goodnight I will see you both in the morning." Then she rubbed my belly. "I love you little brother or sister and I can't wait to meet you!" She ran upstairs and slammed her door shut.

"I think she likes it here Carlos."

"I think this is going to be the perfect house for us Babe." I yawned. It was his turn to rub my belly this time. "Let's get you and this baby to bed. We can talk about what happened tonight in the morning."

"Okay." We started walking up the stairs. "When are we going to tell the Merry Men about us getting married and the baby?"

"I was thinking about tomorrow at the morning meeting." He said tucking me into the bed and climbing in next to me.

"Sounds perfect Batman. I love you."

"I love you too Wonder Woman." We snuggled together and went to sleep.

_A/N~ So everyone what parts of the pregnancy do you want to hear about? Have any of you had interesting issues during your pregnancies? Let me know I need some inspiration! _


	31. Chapter 31

_A/N~ Thanks for the reviews everyone! I'm still a little stumped on how to write about the pregnancy so I am delaying that chapter with this one! _

**Chapter 31**

I woke up the morning after telling our families sick as a dog but excited. Today was the day we were going to tell the Merry Men about us getting married. I was so excited I got up before my alarm. I could tell it surprised Carlos to see me in the shower before he got back from his work out. Our morning started off like normal other than me being up early, the three of us ate breakfast together and then we dropped Julie off at school. When we got back home instead of going up to the seventh floor we went to the control room on the fifth floor in time for the morning meeting.

When we walked in everyone looked surprised to see us. I can't really blame them because since we have been back we have made ourselves scarce. We sat down at the table and Carlos barked "Report." The room came alive with chatter.

"All accounts are taken care of."

"No client complaints to report."

"No break ins at any of our clients places."

"We have had no problems since you have been gone." Tank added once everyone gave their reports. "It's good to see the two of you here and not in a hospital worrying. We were all so relieved when Lester told us you guys got married while you were in Hawaii. It's nice to see the two of you finally figured it out." Immediately Lester tried to excuse himself from the meeting.

"Sit your dumb ass down Santos. I will see you on the mats at 11:00." Carlos said to him in a deadly tone. I was going to kill Lester. Carlos and I getting married was our news to tell not his.

"Lester you are so fucking lucky I am pregnant right now and can't kick your stupid ass myself. That was our news to tell not yours. What the hell were you thinking?" Everyone was staring at me. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Um Babe? Do you have any idea what you just said?"

"Yeah I told Lester he's lucky I'm pregnant. Oh yeah. Hey guys guess what Carlos and I are having a baby." The room erupted in "Congratulations". Carlos wrapped his arm around me and whispered in my ear.

"You never disappoint Babe." After everyone settled down Carlos explained the whole situation. "Well as you all know we have been in love with each other for a long time and were too chicken shit to say it. So while we were in Hawaii we finally got to actually talking about our feelings. Then as you know all hell broke loose. Steph told me she wanted to adopt Julie and I told her she had to marry me first. We got married and decided that now that we have a family we needed to change our roles in our jobs. I will no longer be going after any skips nor will Stephanie. We will discuss the other changes at a later date. We found out we were having a baby a couple days ago and we told our families last night. Today is the day to tell our closest friends." The Merry Men sat there in shock. I swear you could hear a pin drop in the room. I guess Carlos was sick and tired of all the staring so he yelled "Dismissed. I would like to meet with the core team in my office in an hour."

Everyone got up and walked to their offices and cubicles. "Um Carlos, where am I supposed to work from?"

"You are going to work from my office until we can get you set up with an office of your own."

"Wow it pays to be married to the boss. I don't need my own office though; I can work from my old cubicle."

"No you can't Babe. I want you to have a space to be able to meet with clients. Plus you can't do payroll and what not from a cubicle you need a secure place where no one can get to your computer." We walked to his office as we were talking. "Why don't you go down to the bonds office and let Vinnie know that you will no longer be working for him and then maybe you can have lunch with the girls. I'm sure they want to hear all about us getting married and making a baby." He laughed at me.

I was thinking about calling Vinnie because I don't want to deal with his bull shit but seeing the girl's sounds like a great idea. I think I might see if Mary Lou wants to have lunch with us."

"That sounds like a great idea. I don't want you to do much today though because I am sure after lunch you and I both will be exhausted and have to leave work early."

"Or we could just be honest and go have a nooner after I get back."

"Where is the fun in that? I finally am putting work on the back burner you should take advantage of it while you can."

"Yeah because nine months from now we won't be able to just leave for a little while, our house is like 45 minutes away."

"Well Babe I have already thought about that. Once we move into the house I was thinking that we would only need to be here three days a week and the rest of the work we could do from home unless we have to come in for a meeting."

"That sounds great Carlos it really does but why don't we wait and see how things turn out. We can make a decision to limit our days here if we feel like we need to. For the most part we can have the baby here with us during the day unless we have a meeting. When we do I am sure we can either hire a baby sitter who can work here from one of the apartments on four or we can talk to Ella who I am sure would love to help with our baby."

"If you are comfortable with that then I am too I just want to be able to put our family before this place. I have put Rangeman first for way too long."

_A/N~ Okay I seriously need some help with the pregnancy chapters. I want her to have some really strange pregnancy symptoms. My pregnancy was pretty run of the mill my only cravings were Strawberries, burger king, and dunkin doughnuts and the only complications I had we premature labor that was stopped just as quickly as it started. SO please people I am BEGGING you give me some ideas…._


	32. Chapter 32

_A/N~ Thank you for all your reviews and suggestions! If any of you have any other suggestions please send them to me ASAP because I will sta_r_t the pregnancy chapter tomorrow night. So for now it is lunch with the girls. Who knows who they will run into…._

**Chapter 32**

Carlos had just come back to his office from kicking the shit out of Lester on the mats when it was time for me to leave for lunch with the girls. "Okay I have to go now Carlos I should be back within two hours."

"Okay Babe I will see you then. Be careful and have fun."

"I will I love you."

"Love you too. Now leave before I do something that will make you late." I love my husband but now I was really giving second thought to lunch with the girls when I could just go upstairs with him and have some fun.

I forced myself to walk out the door of this office and into the elevator. I took the Cheyenne and drove to Pino's to meet the ladies. When I got there Connie, Lula, and Mary Lou were sitting at a table.

"So white girl what was so important you had to get us all together for lunch." Lula asked me when I sat down at the table.

"Yeah Steph what's going on Vinnie is going nuts without you working for the past three months? How are you paying your rent?" Connie asked next.

"Is everything okay?" Mary Lou asked nervously.

"Yes everything is okay. As you all know I went to Hawaii with Car-Ranger to do a job. While we were there I was kidnapped by his ex-wife." Everyone inhaled deeply. "Luckily thanks to Tank there was a tracker in one of my shoes."

"That's my man always thinking about shoes." Lula interrupted. I stared at her. "Go on Stephanie keep talking." I continued on telling the rest of the story except for the marriage part. "So hold on white girl. You told Batman you wanted to adopt his daughter and he was okay with that?"

"He had one condition. He said he wanted to get married first."

"Oh shit." Marry Lou said under her breath. "Is he okay? How long did it take for you to run?"

"I didn't run. Carlos and I got married in Hawaii a little over a month ago." I would have thought I was in a room with a bunch of high school girls the three of them shrieked so loudly."

"Are you fucking kidding me Steph? You got married to Ranger? The Ranger Manoso who trained you?"

"The one and only. I adopted Julie on the same day. We have some other news too. I'm pregnant and we are moving into a house in two months." This news was followed by more shrieking.

"White girl did you just say you are having Batbaby and moving into the Batcave?"

"I prefer to call the baby the RangeBabe but yeah pretty much." All of a sudden the girls went quiet and a felt a hand clamp painfully on my shoulder. I turned around and it was Joe Morelli.

"Well Cupcake I guess you really did fall for his bullshit. You let him knock you up too I didn't realize you were so stupid."

"Joe We talked about this already. He is not bullshitting me we are very happy." His grip didn't loosen.

"This was supposed to be our life. But you lied to me telling me that you didn't want to get married or have children."

"Joe you cheated on me. You lost the right to have this conversation with me." That's when I smelled the alcohol on his breath. "Joe how long have you been drinking for?  
"What does it matter to you Cupcake?" He snapped at me. I have never been afraid of Joe before but right now I was terrified. His grip tightened.

"Joe you are hurting me." I started to cry.

"Why are you crying? I'm sure Manoso is roughed with you than this. His grip tightened even more this was going to leave a really bad bruise. What was I going to tell Carlos? Then I felt that familiar tingle on the back of my neck and I realized that all hell was about to break loose. That was when I heard someone take the safety off their gun.

"You will unhand my wife right now or I swear to god I will put a bullet into your brain." I felt Joe let go of my arm and Julie came running over to me crying.

"Mama! Are you okay? Is the baby okay?" I nodded my head.

"Baby girl sit here for a minute. I need to go outside. Carlos call the cops I want to press charges." I said as I got up out of the booth. I walked about five steps before the room went dark.

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I woke up hearing that familiar beeping that let me know I was in the hospital. Shit what happened now? Then I remembered it all. The baby oh god is my baby okay. I put my hands to my stomach.

"The baby is okay Babe." I opened my eyes. "I am so glad to see you open your eyes Babe you have been unconscious for three days."

"Three days? Why was I out for so long?"

"Your blood pressure was really high and then it was really low they think your body just made you sleep for a while to protect you and the baby."

"Is Julie okay?"

"She will be when she knows you are awake. She has been staying at Valerie's house while you have been in here so that I could stay here. She wanted me to be able to call her right after you woke up. I want your doctors to check you and the baby before we call her." He held my hand and kissed it. "I will be right back I am going to tell the doctors you are awake so they can come in and check you out."

"I love you Carlos."

"I love you too Stephanie." He walked out the door to go get the doctors. About five minutes later Carlos came back into my room followed by a doctor.

"Hello Stephanie I am Doctor Torres I have been monitoring your baby while you have been unconscious. I am going to have to do a trans-vaginal ultrasound just so you know. I will be right back in with the machine." She walked out the door and quickly came back in pushing a machine with a small T.V. screen on it. "Please put your feet down on the bed and bend your knees." I listened to the doctor and she started the ultrasound. She made three small circles on the screen. "See these three small little bubbles?" I nodded my head not trusting my voice. "Those are your babies. And those fluttering things inside each bubble are their heartbeats. All of them look very strong. You are a lucky woman." Wait a minute did she just say babies? Three babies? What the hell?

"Excuse me Dr. Torres did you just say I am having three babies?"

"Yes I did and from the looks of them they are three very strong babies."

"I think I might faint I was only expecting one."

"You will be fine Stephanie. I will leave you alone to talk to your husband. Doctor O'Malley will be in to see you in an hour or so when he gets back on to do his rounds." With that she left.

Meanwhile I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. "Babe it is going to be okay. We have plenty of room for three babies." I started to cry.

"I know that Carlos but I am going to be huge! How am I going to walk around with three babies in my belly?"

"You will be fine Babe please stay calm." He crawled into bed with me rubbing circles on my belly and talking to the babies in Spanish. Dr. O'Malley came in a little while later and checked me out. He told me he consulted with Dr. Torres and that if I had no complications for two days I could go home.


	33. Chapter 33

_A/N~ Okay time for pregnant Stephanie shenanigans I hope you all approve. And as always thank you so much for your reviews and suggestions! Really long chapter it might be kind of slow. _

**Chapter 33**

_**2 Months Pregnant**_

After all the drama with Joe Morelli was over things began to run more smoothly. My mother actually apologized to me for her terrible behavior. I was completely stunned because my mother apologizes for nothing ever. Work was work not very exciting at all but I loved being there knowing that I could help. Carlos on the other hand was going nuts he hated being in the office all the time. I felt terrible for him I really did but I was glad he was safe and not out chasing down a bunch of gun wielding psychos. The morning sickness was still in full effect and I was praying every day that I would wake up and not immediately have to run to the bathroom. By the time the end of my second month came I was so happy because that meant I was that much closer to having our babies.

_**3 Months Pregnant**_

My third month of pregnancy was insane, all sorts of weird things started to happen. The first and most noticeable were my boobs. I went from a big 'b' to a 'd' it was complete madness. Not that I really minded that much but a little slower would have been great. I was in the shower one morning after we dropped Julie off at school and Carlos walked in.

"Wow Babe, body by baby is really working for you. " He said as he stepped in with me.

"I'm glad you like it so much." Oh yeah I failed to mention my sex drive was completely absurd. I tried to get Carlos to have sex with me in the gun range while it was full of people. "I'm sure you don't mind my willingness to please you whenever you want either." He smiled at me.

"No Babe I can't say I mind that at all. Although the gun range was a little much if Lester was there all hell would have broken loose."

"I don't know what I was thinking. Just all of a sudden I needed you in the worst way. Yeah thank God Les wasn't there." He kissed me and then completely ravished me. After we both had multiple orgasms we decided it was time to get dressed and go to work.

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Aside from my boobs and sex drive I also started to get cravings. So far they were okay nothing weird. Right now my absolute favorite thing to eat was avocado, tomato, and bean sprout sandwiches. I know I know they are definitely their fathers children. One Saturday Julie asked me. "Mama do you ever think you will want pizza again?"

"I'm sure I will why what's up?"

"Well I was really hoping we could go grab a slice."

"I think that can be arranged. Are you hungry now?" she nodded her head. Well then let's go do you want me to call Val and see if we can grab Mary Alice?"

"Would you? That would be great!"

"Okay give me a few minutes to get ready and call Val and then we can leave." I walked into the bathroom and took care of Mother Nature before I went to my bedroom to get dressed. I called Val and she was delighted to let Mary Alice come out with us because Angie was sleeping over her friend's house.

When we got to Pino's it was packed. I think half of the 'Burg was there including Joyce Barnhart just flippin' great. We sat as far away from her as possible. "Hey Aunt Steph isn't that the woman you found on your kitchen table with Dickie?"

"How do you know about that Mary Alice?"

"I have ears you know the whole 'Burg still talks about it."

"Seriously Mama Steph your kitchen table?" Julie asked me.

"Yup, my kitchen table." All of a sudden her mouth was hanging open.

"What is this, the orphanage? I heard Joyce's horrible voice behind me.

"Go away Joyce. No one wants you here. We might get a S.T.D. just being near you."

"You know Stephanie your mother must be so disappointed. You couldn't get your shit together enough to have your own daughter so you took some other woman's. "

"This coming from a woman who has never been married or had children but fucks anything that walks that has a penis. If you don't get away from me I swear to God I will call my husband and tell him you are being detrimental to our unborn triples health."

"Oh please do call him. I took one of your husbands I am sure I can take the other one."

"It must make your mother so proud to have a whore for a daughter who loves nothing more than breaking up marriages. Now seriously get the fuck away from my daughter, my niece and, me. None of us want to get H.I.V. today." The whole place started laughing and Joyce stormed out the door. We ordered and ate our pizza in peace. We left and the girls stared at me in awe. "Why are you guys staring at me?" In stereo they answered.

"That was awesome." I shook my head.

"That never happened." They both nodded.

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The best part of my third month was at the very end I could feel the babies start moving around. I was that weirdest most wonderful feeling I have ever felt.

_**4 Months Pregnant**_

The forth month of my pregnancy was amazing. All of a sudden my morning sickness stopped which in itself was fabulous. Apparently it was going to be a new month a new craving this month it was barbeque chips on a buttered roll. I know it sounds terrible but it was truly amazing and at least one of the babies loved it! Maybe one of these little ones took after me. Thank god because I don't know if Julie and I could survive with a houseful of health food junkies.

I also started to show and not show as in it made me look fat show as in it looked like I was six months pregnant which I guess was to be expected seeing as I am carrying triplets. The little ones were starting to move around more and more. I was anxiously waiting for my appointment to find out the sex of the babies. Unfortunately I still had another month wait. Carlos and I decided to wait on picking out names until we knew what we were having. Seeing as we were having triples it would be a very long process to pick out three boys names and three girls names and there was no point in that.

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At the end of the month it was time for me to go shopping for maternity clothes because my normal clothes were just too tight to even think about wearing on a day to day basis. I decided to call Lester seeing as I haven't had my pay back on him yet for blabbing about us getting married.

"Hey Les!" I said happily into the phone.

"What's up Beautiful?" He sounded so upbeat I couldn't wait to crush his mood.

"So Julie is at Val's house, Carlos is doing some business research, and I was wondering if you would mind taking me to the mall to shop for maternity clothes. We haven't been able to hang out in a while and this would be a great opportunity."

"I would love to. But why don't you ask Lula? I know nothing about maternity clothes." Oh yeah he was trying hard to get out of this but he was playing right into my plan.

"Well I would but I feel like it would upset Carlos if I walked around looking like a pregnant hooker." He sighed into the phone.

"I guess you have a good point there when do you want to leave? I just finished getting dressed so I am ready whenever you are." Yes I won!

"I'm all set to go. I just needed someone to come with me. I'll meet you in the garage in five minutes. Is that okay?"

"See you then." I heard the phone disconnect.

I think I tried on every piece of maternity clothing in the mall. Lester looked like he wanted to shoot himself especially when people were asking him when his baby was due. He actually told one person I cheated on him and the baby wasn't his. So I made sure to tell the one person that he seemed to find the least bit attractive that he was my gay best friend and she walked away pouting. God I love making Lester miserable.

_**5 Months Pregnant**_

My fifth month of pregnancy was my favorite because Carlos could finally feel the babies kicking me. He seemed obsessed with holding my belly anytime he was close to me so that he could feel them moving around. There were even times when he and Julie would fight about who got to touch my belly. One night they stared fighting over my belly and I had finally had enough and told them that if they couldn't behave neither one of them were going to be allowed to touch it at all.

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I woke up on the morning of March 15th extremely excited. It was the day of my ultrasound to find out if we were having boys or girls or boys and girls. Julie came into our room shortly after we woke up.

"Do I have to go to school today?" She whined at us. I looked at Carlos hoping that he would say yes.

"I don't know Julie. Don't you have to turn in your homework?" He asked her. I could tell he was trying to tease her.

"But Dad can't we have one of the guys drop it off. I want to be there when you guys get to see the little ones. "

"Well I guess it would be okay since you did get straight A's on your report card last quarter. As long as it is okay with your mother."

"Is it Mama? Can I go? Can I?" She crawled into the bed and hugged me trying to get me to say yes.

"I think it would be okay if you came to find out what we are having." She screamed and ran out of our room yelling something about getting dressed and what not. To be honest right now I didn't have a clue what she really said.

The morning flew by I was so excited I couldn't focus on anything. The next thing I knew we were in the car on the way to the doctor's office. The three of us all seemed to be in our own zones. We got to the office and I checked in before sitting down with Carlos and Julie. The wait seemed to take forever as we were sitting there finally I was called into the back.

The nurse did the usual work up weighed me, took my blood pressure so on and so forth. When she left Julie was a fountain full of questions. "Mama, does it hurt when the babies kick?"

"No Julie it doesn't hurt, it kind of tickles a little bit."

"Oh okay." The questions kept coming when finally the doctor came in.

She measured my belly and asked me even more questions which I am sure may have scarred Carlos and Julie for life. On the bright side I probably won't have to worry about teen pregnancy because Julie turned white as snow hearing some of the things that were going on with my body. When the doctor was done with her medical inquisition she brought us all to another room telling us that the ultrasound tech would be in right away. About three minutes later the tech walked in and started the ultrasound. The babies looked so much bigger from the last time I saw them. They were quite the little acrobats flipping around inside me. Carlos and Julie laughed at how much they moved around.

"Well these babies look absolutely perfect and they are very active." The tech said. "Do you want to know the sexes?"

"Yes we do. We would like to have names for them before they are here." The tech nodded and continued looking at the babies.

"Well unfortunately with how active they are I can't really see much of anything. I'm sorry but if you want we can schedule another ultrasound for you." Carlos spoke up.

"Give me just a minute I would like to try something." The tech wiped off my stomach. Carlos put his hands on either side of my stomach and started talking to the babies in Spanish. "Cálmate poco mis pequeños. Tu madre y yo quiero saber lo que sabemos lo que hay que nombrar. Te quiero mucho y quiere asegurarse de que tienen nombres muy especiales. Pero no podemos hacer eso a menos que usted deje de moverse tanto." _(Calm down little my little ones. Your mother and I want to know what to know what we should name you. We love you very much and want to make sure that you have very special names. But we cannot do that unless you stop moving around so much. ) _I have no idea what he said but whatever it was made the babies calm down. I could tell he could feel them slowing down because he smiled and then kissed my belly. "Try again now they stopped practicing gymnastics." He said to the tech.

The tech put more of that blue gel on my stomach and started again. I could tell she was in shock with how much the babies calmed down. "Sir I have no idea what you said to them but it worked they look like they are getting ready to take a nap. This will be a perfect time to see what you are having." She moved the probe around for a little while and smiled. "Well it seems like you have three very cuddly babies. Congratulations you are having two girls and one boy." As soon as she told us I had tears streaming down my face. Damn pregnancy hormones! Carlos had the biggest smile on his face and Julie was shaking with excitement.

_**6 Months Pregnant**_

The sixth month of my pregnancy was spent working, making decisions about or house, and picking out names for the babies. I had a couple more ideas that I wanted to throw at Carlos. Today was a really long day and I was tired so after we all ate dinner I asked Carlos if we could call it a night. He looked concerned so I explained to him that it was a long day and I did a lot of searches. Julie was tired too she was on the softball team at school and she had a really long week of practices because they had a tournament next week. So we all turned in around 8pm.

We were laying in bed and Carlos asked "Are you sure that you are okay Babe?"

"I'm fine I promise I just want to relax in bed with you tonight. I thought about some more names. I really want to name our son after you so I was thinking Carlos Ricardo." He smiled at me.

"Babe I would love for our son to be named after me but what would we call him. Calling him Carlos would be really confusing and calling him Ricky or Ricardo would be confusing when we are around my family. What if we name him Frank Carlos and then we can call him Frankie?"

"You want to name him after my father?"

"I think it would be perfect to name him after your father."

"I love you Carlos."

"I love you too Babe."

"I was thinking about some girl names too. Brooklyn Sandra for one of them."

"I like that Babe. What about Kyra Sophia for the other girl?"

"That is prefect Carlos! So it is decided Carlos Frank, Brooklyn Sandra, and Kyra Sophia?"

"It is decided!" He put one of his hands on my belly. "I can't wait to meet them." He kissed my belly. "Do you want me to put lotion on you? You have been itching your belly all night."

"Would you?" He nodded his head and got up to go get the lotion we have been using to make sure I don't get stretch marks.

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About a week after deciding on baby names it was time to paint all the bedrooms in the house. We decided to make the nursery look like a jungle. The carpet was dark green and there was a mural that wrapped around the whole room with trees, vines, and jungle animals. We painted what would be Frankie's bedroom when he was old enough to sleep in a bed royal and sky blue. Brooklyn's room was painted lavender and dark lime green. Kyra's room was done a sunset pink and turquoise. Julie's room was by far the coolest three of her walls were electric blue and one wall was leopard print. The kid's rooms were fabulous. We just had to finish down stairs and we could move into the house. We were told it would take about three weeks to be done.

_**7 Months Pregnant**_

I am HUGE I feel like I might explode! I have eight weeks left and I can't imagine getting any bigger than I am right now. Everyone keeps telling me that I am only going to get bigger so I should be putting on lotion every time I go to the bathroom so I don't get stretch marks.

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Our house was finally done and we were living there now it was amazing. It felt like this is where we belonged. Julie was so excited she didn't have a bedroom right next to ours anymore. She said my snoring was insane. I don't know about that I slept through it and Carlos never made a comment about it.

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Carlos has told me that I am no longer welcome at Rangeman and that I should stay home and rest. He is probably right. My moods have been a little out of control lately. Lester told me my belly was starting to get big and I told him that if he didn't shut his mouth I was going to make it so that he could never make a woman pregnant. I have been sleeping a lot since then and it had helped my moods a lot. Until Carlos came home today.

"Babe I need to talk to you about something."

"What's up Carlos?"

"You are not going to like what I am about to say right now but just hear me out." I nodded my head. "I talked to Morelli today he wants to apologize to you. I think you should let him."

"Are you fucking kidding me Carlos? He made me wind up in the fucking hospital and you want me to let him come near me and apologize?"

"I told you that you weren't going to like this."

"No I don't like this at all. Did you fall and fucking smack the shit out of you head or something? Seriously have you lost your fucking mind?" I was screaming at him.

"Just hear me out Babe." He cupped my face and I punched him in the nose. I punched him so hard he was bleeding but I didn't think it was broken. Then I started crying hysterically. He wrapped his arms around me. "That was a good hit Babe I'm proud of you I just wish I want on the receiving end of it." I was still crying. "I'm going to go clean up my face and let you calm down then we can finish talking." I nodded my head. About twenty minutes later He came back into the living room. "Can we talk now Babe?"

"Yeah we can talk now. I am so sorry I hit you like that. It's just I am terrified of Morelli." He sat down next to me on the couch and took my hands. I think he was trying to make sure I couldn't hit him again. I kissed him on the cheek careful not to touch his nose.

"I know Babe and I can't blame you for that but I really think you should hear him out. The things he told me shocked the shit out of me. He is a mess but I think his time in rehab really helped him a lot. He is seeing someone now she is a pediatric nurse. He even said the three of us could talk together."

"You really think I will be safe?"

"I wouldn't say anything if I thought it wasn't."

"I'll go by myself then."

"I'll make a call." He kissed me on my forehead. "I am so proud of you Babe. Believe me, if I thought he was going to hurt you or our babies I would not let him anywhere near you." He got up and went to call Joe.

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I met with Joe at Pino's three day after Carlos and I talked. When I walked in he was sitting in one of the back booths. I went over and sat down across from him.

"Hi, Steph." He said sounding like someone punched him in the stomach.

"Hi, Joe. Carlos sad you wanted to talk to me." I was not going to let this drag out.

"Yeah, I was afraid to call you myself. I want to apologize for how terrible I was to you. I don't know what the hell I was thinking, not that that is an excuse. I am so sorry for everything. I tried so long to not be like my father that I turned into something much worse. I don't expect you to forgive me but I would really like to talk to you about this."

"Joe to be honest with you I don't know if I can forgive you but I do want to hear what you have to say because I don't know what happened either."

"I don't know where to start Cupcake." He turned white as a sheet. "I'm sorry Stephanie it is a habit."

"It's okay Joe. How about you start with after I came back from Hawaii? I really don't want to hear about the cheating and all that."

"Well after you left I went crazy. I started drinking heavily and I was completely out of control. Then when you came back I thought we would be able to get back together but then I heard you got married and I lost it completely. I couldn't even make it to work some mornings. To be honest with you from after I left your parents' house until you passed out here is a complete black out. I have no idea what happened."

"Wow Joe I don't even know what to say to you. You hurt me so bad and then I was terrified something was going to happen to my babies."

"I know Steph and I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive myself for risking your life and your baby's life." We talked for another hour until I started yawning. "You should go home. I hope that one day we will be able to talk again. I miss you." I got up walked around the table and hugged Joe.

"You need to worry about you. Don't worry about me I have a lot of people looking out for me. I'm sure we can talk again I just need a little more time. Take care of yourself okay?"

"He nodded at me. Will you let me know when you have the babies? I am still worried that I hurt them."

"You didn't hurt them Joe believe me. I you hurt them you wouldn't be here right now. But I will be in touch to give you their stats after they are born."

"Thanks Cupcake." I walked out of Pino's and I was not surprised to see Carlos leaning against my car.

"You okay Babe?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. I don't think he is though." Carlos looked worried. "No, not like that. I just think he can't get past what he did. I want to be able to help him but I can't right now while I am like this."

"I'm sure if he needs you he will call one of us. He is going to be alright Babe. Linda is really good for him. Don't worry about him. I'm sure after you have the babies it will make him feel better."

"One of us has to make sure we call him and let him know they are okay."

"We will Babe don't worry."

_**8 Months Pregnant**_

__I woke up at 10:30 on June 30th exactly four more weeks left until the babies were here. I got up and showered. When I got down stairs I had a huge craving for a peanut butter and olive sandwich. I went in the fridge and there were no olives. So I got in the car and drove to the grocery store.

As I was walking around the store I got more cravings. Maybe I should have eaten something before coming here. I was walking down the chip isle when I saw Joe and some woman who I assumed was his girlfriend. When he saw me he smiled and whispered something to her and they came walking over to me.

"Hey Steph! How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling okay just tired all the time. How have you been doing?"

"I'm doing great. This is my girlfriend Hannah. Hannah this is Stephanie." She and I exchanged pleasantries and the three of us talked for a little while. We were saying our goodbyes when I got a funny feeling in my stomach and then my water broke."

_A/N~ hope you all approve! I know a lot of you wanted me to make two b_oys _but I wanted to name one of them after Carlos and it wouldn't be fair to name one boy after and one boy not. So that is why there are two girls. SOOOOO review away everyone!_


	34. Chapter 34

_A/N~ thank you for all of your reviews everyone. I kno_w th_e last chapter was really long but I didn't want to break it up. _

**Chapter 34**

"No. No. No, this is not happening. I still have a month left." I started yelling. Joe came running back up the isle just in time to catch me as my knees gave out. I was in a complete panic.

"Stephanie you need to calm down it will only-"

"Stop calling me Stephanie. You have called me cupcake since I was 16 now is not the time to change things!" I screamed in his face.

"Cupcake listen to me you need to calm down. You freaking out like this is not good for you or the babies. Please Cupcake calm down. Where is Ranger?" He said trying to soothe me. Unfortunately it was not working.

"He's at work. I didn't tell anyone I was leaving. I just wanted a peanut butter and olive sandwich." I said crying. "I don't want to have my babies in the stop and shop."

"You are not going to have these babies in the store. Seriously you need to calm down." Just then Hannah came running up to us.

"I'm going to call 9-1-1 they will send an ambulance here right away." She said to me.

"Like hell you are lady. There will be no calling 9-1-1 do you hear me?" She turned white and nodded her head. "There is a panic button and a cell phone in my purse. Push the button and hand me my phone." Joe went fishing in my purse.

"Holy shit Cupcake what happened to your gun? Did you give it steroids?"

"Not the time asshole. Push the fucking button and give me my phone so I can call Ranger." I yelled at him. He pushed the button and then handed me my phone. It rang just before I could call Carlos. I answered it screaming in pain as a contraction hit me.

"Babe what's going on? Why are you at the grocery store? Wait, why are you screaming like that?" He sounded confused and angry.

"I wanted a peanut butter and olive sandwich. My water broke get here now. Hannah wants to call 9-1-1." I said starting to cry.

"I'll be there in five minutes. Just say calm Babe. Hannah who?"

"Joe's girlfriend, he's here too. Oh my God this hurts so bad."

"I'm almost there Babe and then we will get you to the hospital." Joe put his hand out to take the phone.

"Okay. Here Joe wants to talk to you." I handed Joe the phone.

"Ranger one of the people who work here brought a wheel chair over. We will get her up front so you can just grab and go." Pause. "Wait you're not driving are you?" Pause. "Okay good." Pause. "She will be okay man." As he was on the phone he and another man put me in the wheelchair and quickly wheeled me to the front of the store. By the time we got up there Carlos was jumping out of the explorer.

He lifted me out of the wheelchair and put me in the back seat of the truck.

"Babe breath you are pale as all hell. Everything will be okay." He turned to Morelli. "Are you going to meet us at the hospital?"

"I don't know if I should be there just call me when they are all okay."

"She is going to want you to see them. I will call you after they are here and you will come see them."

"I wouldn't miss it. Now go take care of them" Carlos slammed the door shut and we were on our way.

It felt like the ten minute ride to the hospital took hours. I was in so much pain it made my period seem like nothing. Oh God I can't wait until I can have drugs.

_Short chapter tonight I'm tired and to be honest I am kinda lost on where to go. I'm getting sad because the story is almost over. _


	35. Chapter 35

_A/N~ Thank you for your patients for this chapter. I apologize in an advance for this chapter not being fabulous. _

**Chapter 35**

The ride to the hospital was insanely long or at least it felt that way. I am truly terrified my babies are a month early what am I going to do? Are they going to me healthy? Will they be able to come home with me when I leave the hospital?

"Babe it's going to be okay I called the doctor it is normal for multiples too be early. Calm down please Babe." Carlos said trying to soothe me.

"Promise me everything is going to be okay. I don't know if I can do this."

"Babe look at me. Everything will be fine we are going to get to the hospital and you are going to have these babies and when the doctor says it is okay we are all going to go home together." As he was saying this I could tell we were pulling into the hospital parking lot because we were coming to a stop.

"Okay Bombshell make us proud. We will be waiting to hear the good news." Tank said. "Hey Bossman take care of our girl okay."

"With my life." Carlos answered him as we got out of the truck. "Are you okay to walk Babe?"

"Yeah I'll be fine." We walked into the hospital and got checked in. Then we waited. And waited. Every hour a nurse came in to check how I was progressing and the contractions were getting closer and closer together and unfortunately stronger. Finally almost fifteen hours later it was getting to be time.

"Babe you are doing great our little ones are almost here."

"Go away Carlos I need Ranger." He put his hands on both sides of my face and stared me in the eyes. Yeah there he was my husband's bad ass alter ego, the man with enough strength to get through anything.

"Babe look at me. You need to listen to me. You will calm down right now and you will listen to everything the doctor tells you so that you and our children will be healthy." Then he kissed me so thoroughly that I almost forgot that I was in labor and about to give birth… Until I got slammed with a huge contraction. The doctor came in the room and checked me just as the contraction started to stop. Unlike every other time she called in the nurse and sat and they set up the room for my delivery.

"Oh my God Ranger I can't do this it hurts too much." I screamed as another contraction came.

"Babe, you can do this it is almost over just keep breathing. Our babies are almost here." Ranger said in almost a whisper while holding my hand.

"Okay Stephanie you are doing great on the next contraction I want you to push. I can see the baby's head so this should be pretty quick now." The Doctor said from behind the drape. It was time the contraction came.

"Oh my god I hate you Ranger!" I screamed as i pushed with all I had. Then there was a tiny but amazing cry.

"Congratulations it's a girl." Carlos cut the cord and the wrapped our baby up and put her on my chest so that I could see her. Then they quickly rushed away with her so htat I could deliver my other babies.

"You can do this Babe two more times. You are doing amazingly." The other two babies were delivered without a problem. Carlos went back to being Carlos as soon as our son was finally born. He gave us a run for our money though making us wait forty-five minutes after both of his sisters were born before he decided to make his appearance. The five of us were sitting in my room resting when Carlos spoke up.

"I am so proud of you Babe they are beautiful. Have we decided who is who yet?"

"Purple hat Brooklyn, pink hat Kyra?"

"I think so too. I can't wait for Julie to meet them." Then there was a knock on the door. It was Julie.

"The doctor said it was okay for me to come in now." She said as she walked over to the bed. "Oh my God they are beautiful. Who is who?" Carlos lifted the baby in his arms a bit.

"This is Frankie he was last to be born and he is the smallest being 4 pounds 2 ounces. Kyra is the one in the pink hat and she was the first born and weighs 4 pounds 10 ounces. Brooklyn is in the purple hat and she was the second born and the biggest being 5 pounds." He told her. She pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down.

"Can I hold one of the girls Mama?"

"Of course you can. Carlos can you hand her one of them?" He got up and handed her Brooklyn.

"Hi Brooklyn." She whispered. "I'm your big sister Julie. I love the three of you so much. You know there is a room full of people waiting to see you? I'm glad I got to meet you before anyone else because I can tell they are going to be a bunch of baby hogs." The three of us sat there for a while switching babies back and forth so that Julie got to meet each one of her siblings before everyone tried to take them and meet them for themselves.

_Hope you guys liked it sorry for the mix us before with having to repost the whole story earlier. I made sure I finished this up so that I could make up for it… _


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